Impact of food environment intervention on household food supply: Results from the Baltimore Healthy Eating Zones program

Abstract

Low‐income African‐Americans in Baltimore City live in neighborhoods with limited healthy food access. The Baltimore Healthy Eating Zones (BHEZ) program aimed to increase healthy food access and improve youth dietary behavior by employing multi‐pronged interventions at recreation centers and nearby food retailers. Intervention activities, including point‐of‐purchase interactions, peer mentoring, cooking demos and taste tests, were conducted over a 9 month period and encouraged foods such as low‐fat dairy (skim and 1% milk), cooking spray, low‐sugar beverages, and high‐fiber cereals and breads. Using a paired t‐test, we observed no significant change in total household healthy food supply (n=83) within intervention (mean healthy foods present out of 16: 11.85 baseline, 11.71 post, p=0.784) and control (mean healthy foods out of 16: 11.67 baseline, 11.57 post, p=0.682) zones. Using a McNemer test, supply of 1% / skim milk significantly increased among both populations (control: 26.5% to 52.9%; p=0.035, intervention 18.4% to 57.1%; p<0.001), while supply of 2% milk significantly decreased for the intervention group (control: 50% to 32.4%; p=0.210, intervention: 63.3% to 34.7%; p=0.004). These preliminary data suggest BHEZ had no impact on overall household food supply among low‐income African‐American caregivers, but appears to have led to a small shift toward lower fat milk usage.Grant Funding Source: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation