Urban vs. Rural Socioeconomic Differences in the Nutritional Quality of Household Packaged Food Purchases by Store Type.

Allison Lacko,Barry Popkin,Shu Wen Ng

doi:10.3390/ijerph17207637

Abstract

The U.S. food system is rapidly changing, including the growth of mass merchandisers and dollar stores, which may impact the quality of packaged food purchases (PFPs). Furthermore, diet-related disparities exist by socioeconomic status (SES) and rural residence. We use data from the 2010–2018 Nielsen Homescan Panel to describe the nutritional profiles of PFPs by store type and to assess whether these vary by household urbanicity and SES. Store types include grocery stores, mass merchandisers, club stores, online shopping, dollar stores, and convenience/drug stores. Food and beverage groups contributing the most calories at each store type are estimated using survey-weighted means, while the associations of urbanicity and SES with nutritional quality are estimated using multivariate regression. We find that households that are customers at particular store types purchase the same quality of food regardless of urbanicity or SES. However, we find differences in the quality of foods between store types and that the quantity of calories purchased at each store type varies according to household urbanicity and SES. Rural shoppers tend to shop more at mass merchandisers and dollar stores with less healthful PFPs. We discuss implications for the types of store interventions most relevant for improving the quality of PFPs.

Highlights

Public health efforts to improve food retail have focused on increased access to grocery stores under the assumption that the food available is healthier than smaller convenience stores [1].research examining trends in household packaged food purchases (PFPs) found that the share of purchases from grocery stores decreased from 2000 to 2012 and that the PFPs that were the top sources of calories for US households did not vary meaningfully by store type from 2000 to2012 [2]
The objectives of this research are as follows: first, determine whether trends in the types of stores households shop at and the nutrient profiles and types of foods/beverages purchased at different store types has changed since 2012; second, investigate whether residence in an urban or rural county is associated with the types of stores shopped at and the nutrient profiles of PFPs within store type; third, understand whether socioeconomic differences in the types of stores shopped at or in the nutritional quality of PFPs varies by urban or rural county of residence
We found that rural households purchased more calories per person per day from mass merchandisers and dollar stores compared to urban households, and that low-income households purchase more calories from convenience stores and fewer from club stores than high-income households

Summary

Introduction

Public health efforts to improve food retail have focused on increased access to grocery stores under the assumption that the food available is healthier than smaller convenience stores [1].research examining trends in household packaged food purchases (PFPs) found that the share of purchases from grocery stores decreased from 2000 to 2012 and that the PFPs that were the top sources of calories for US households did not vary meaningfully by store type from 2000 to2012 [2]. Public health efforts to improve food retail have focused on increased access to grocery stores under the assumption that the food available is healthier than smaller convenience stores [1]. Research examining trends in household packaged food purchases (PFPs) found that the share of purchases from grocery stores decreased from 2000 to 2012 and that the PFPs that were the top sources of calories for US households did not vary meaningfully by store type from 2000 to. Diet-related disparities by socioeconomic status (SES) may be exacerbated in rural versus urban food deserts, where lower income individuals have fewer transportation options (e.g., money for gas or lack of public transportation) to access retail stores with a larger variety of food and/or more affordable prices [7,8].

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