Access To Food Stores Research Articles

An integrated approach to analyze equitable access to food stores under disasters from human mobility patterns.

Limited access to food stores is often linked to higher health risks and lower community resilience. Socially vulnerable populations experience persistent disparities in equitable food store access. However, little research has been done to examine how people's access to food stores is affected by natural disasters. Previous studies mainly focus on examining potential access using the travel distance to the nearest food store, which often falls short of capturing the actual access of people. Therefore, to fill this gap, this paper incorporates human mobility patterns into the measure of actual access, leveraging large-scale mobile phone data. Specifically, we propose a novel enhanced two-step floating catchment area method with travel preferences (E2SFCA-TP) to measure accessibility, which extends the traditional E2SFCA model by integrating actual human mobility behaviors. We then analyze people's actual access to grocery and convenience stores across both space and time under the devastating winter storm Uri in Harris County, Texas. Our results highlight the value of using human mobility patterns to better reflect people's actual access behaviors. The proposed E2SFCA-TP measure is more capable of capturing mobility variations in people's access, compared with the traditional E2SFCA measure. This paper provides insights into food store access across space and time, which could aid decision making in resource allocation to enhance accessibility and mitigate the risk of food insecurity in underservedareas.

Interrelation of Subjective and Objective Indicators in Assessing Quality of Life (illustrated by VEB.RF Index)

The current trend in working out the quality of life index is the use of both objective and subjective indicators . The article studies approaches to conceptualization of quality of life and evaluates the academic acceptability of existing Russian and international indices of the quality of life . The goal of the present article is to assess the interrelation of objective and subjective figures in the structure of quality of life indices on the basis of VEB.RF Index. The analysis was carried out by estimating the dependence of the quality of life perception on the level of education , comfort of dwellings , accessibility of medical institutions and food stores , contamination of the atmosphere , the level of profits , sense of security and health indicators ( based on data of 2021). The choice of VEB.RF Index as an analytical tool was grounded by the fact that its database , in contrast to other indices , is open and its structure is based both on objective and subjective indicators . The authors identified the correlation between objective and subjective indicators and it proves the necessity to take into account both types of indicators for working out the quality of life indices.

National trends and disparities in retail food environments in the USA between 1990 and 2014.

To describe national disparities in retail food environments by neighbourhood composition (race/ethnicity and socio-economic status) across time and space. We examined built food environments (retail outlets) between 1990 and 2014 for census tracts in the contiguous USA (n 71 547). We measured retail food environment as counts of all food stores, all unhealthy food sources (including fast food, convenience stores, bakeries and ice cream) and healthy food stores (including supermarkets, fruit and vegetable markets) from National Establishment Time Series business data. Changes in food environment were mapped to display spatial patterns. Multi-level Poisson models, clustered by tract, estimated time trends in counts of food stores with a land area offset and independent variables population density, racial composition (categorised as predominantly one race/ethnicity (>60 %) or mixed), and inflation-adjusted income tertile. The contiguous USA between 1990 and 2014. All census tracts (n 71 547). All food stores and unhealthy food sources increased, while the subcategory healthy food remained relatively stable. In models adjusting for population density, predominantly non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, Asian and mixed tracts had significantly more destinations of all food categories than predominantly non-Hispanic White tracts. This disparity increased over time, predominantly driven by larger increases in unhealthy food sources for tracts which were not predominantly non-Hispanic White. Income and food store access were inversely related, although disparities narrowed over time. Our findings illustrate a national food landscape with both persistent and shifting spatial patterns in the availability of establishments across neighbourhoods with different racial/ethnic and socio-economic compositions.

Population decline and changes in food store access

ABSTRACT I examine how neighbourhood-level food store access, proxied by distance to the nearest food store, changed in Sweden between 2000 and 2013, and how this change is correlated with changes in potential market size, proxied by population density. I find that distance has increased in rural and more affluent neighbourhoods. Furthermore, an increase in distance is negatively correlated with an increase in population density and is most pronounced in rural areas. The results are driven by the growing, rather than the declining, regions. Since the latter have often been a target for subsidies over the years, this could suggest that the aid may have had an impact.

Large-scale diet tracking data reveal disparate associations between food environment and diet

An unhealthy diet is a major risk factor for chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer1–4. Limited access to healthy food options may contribute to unhealthy diets5,6. Studying diets is challenging, typically restricted to small sample sizes, single locations, and non-uniform design across studies, and has led to mixed results on the impact of the food environment7–23. Here we leverage smartphones to track diet health, operationalized through the self-reported consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, fast food and soda, as well as body-mass index status in a country-wide observational study of 1,164,926 U.S. participants (MyFitnessPal app users) and 2.3 billion food entries to study the independent contributions of fast food and grocery store access, income and education to diet health outcomes. This study constitutes the largest nationwide study examining the relationship between the food environment and diet to date. We find that higher access to grocery stores, lower access to fast food, higher income and college education are independently associated with higher consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, lower consumption of fast food and soda, and lower likelihood of being affected by overweight and obesity. However, these associations vary significantly across zip codes with predominantly Black, Hispanic or white populations. For instance, high grocery store access has a significantly larger association with higher fruit and vegetable consumption in zip codes with predominantly Hispanic populations (7.4% difference) and Black populations (10.2% difference) in contrast to zip codes with predominantly white populations (1.7% difference). Policy targeted at improving food access, income and education may increase healthy eating, but intervention allocation may need to be optimized for specific subpopulations and locations.

Food Security, Store Access, and Prices Paid: Do the Poor Pay More for Groceries?

ABSTRACT This research examines food security using actual prices paid by a large panel of U.S. households of consumer-packed goods across seven store formats (e.g., grocery stores, drug stores, and convenience stores). Adjusted for household size and income, the percent of budget spent by three affluency groups (lower, moderate, and higher) found similar spending ratios at the two largest store formats, grocery and mass discounters. Low-income households paid significantly less overall and paid significantly lower prices in three of the four most shopped store formats. The findings suggest poorer consumers are more food secure than previously believed.

Association between Food Store Availability and the Incidence of Functional Disability among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Results from the Japanese Gerontological Evaluation Cohort Study.

This study sought to clarify the association between food store availability and the incidence of disability in older adults. This study utilized a population-based cohort study of independent Japanese adults aged ≥65 years, which was a 6 year follow-up of participants in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study. A total of 31,273 respondents were extracted. Food store availability was evaluated based on the existence of food stores within 500/1000 m of the home. We utilized participant-reported subjective measurement as well as geographic information system-based objective measurement for the evaluation. The incidence of disability was determined using municipal data on eligibility for long-term care insurance benefits. There were 7643 (24.4%) community-dwelling participants with low subjective food store availability and 5673 (18.1%) with low objective food store availability. During the follow-up period of 6 years, the cumulative incidence of disability was 20.9%, with a significant association between low subjective food store availability and increased disability. Participants who reported low subjective food store availability had a significantly higher likelihood of developing disability (hazard ratio = 1.18, 95% confidence interval: 1.11–1.25) than those who reported high subjective food store availability after adjusting for age, sex, sociodemographic status, environmental status, walking and going out, dietary food intake, body mass index, and comorbidities. Low subjective food store availability was associated with early onset of disability. Accessibility of food stores might contribute to maintaining a disability-free life.

Caractériser l'environnement alimentaire d'une municipalité régionale de comté pour identifier les zones prioritaires d'intervention en matière de sécurité alimentaire.

Food security intervention is particularly complex in rural areas. The local stakeholders of the regional county municipality (RCM) of Portneuf wished to analyze the regional food supply in order to reduce food insecurity. The objective of this study was to characterize the RCM's food environment and to identify potential food deserts and priority intervention areas. We measured the quality of the food supply in the RCM's food stores, using four indicators: freshness, diversity, economic accessibility and relative availability. We mapped the distance between residences and the nearest food store with a favourable result for all four indices to locate potential food deserts. We then presented the mapping of the food environment to a group of local stakeholders and compared it to their own perception. This study reveals three sectors that meet the criteria of a food desert in the RCM. Local actors did not perceive these sectors as food deserts, but thought they were at risk of becoming such in the future. We complemented the measures by taking into account the structuring impact of certain infrastructures as well as the temporal and seasonal accessibility of food stores in rural areas. Only one priority intervention area was suggested. Presenting geographical analyses to local stakeholders improved the characterization of the studied food environment. The use of a mixed methodology has enabled the particularities of the rural environment to be better accounted for and has facilitated intersectoral mobilization around food insecurity at the regional level.

Association between the food and physical activity environment, obesity, and cardiovascular health across Maine counties

BackgroundAccounting for nearly one-third of all deaths, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the United States. Adverse health behaviors are major determinants of this high incidence of disease. Examining local food and physical activity environments and population characteristics in a poor, rural state may highlight underlying drivers of these behaviors. We aimed to identify demographic and environmental factors associated with both obesity and overall poor cardiovascular health (CVH) behaviors in Maine counties.MethodsOur cross-sectional study analyzed 40,398 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2011–2014 respondents alongside county-level United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Environment Atlas 2010–2012 measures of the built environment (i.e., density of restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores, and fitness facilities; food store access; and county income). Poor CVH score was defined as exhibiting greater than 5 out of the 7 risk factors defined by the American Heart Association (current smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, poor diet, hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol). Multivariable logistic regression models described the contributions of built environment variables to obesity and overall poor CVH score after adjustment for demographic controls.ResultsBoth demographic and environmental factors were associated with obesity and overall poor CVH. After adjustment for demographics (age, sex, personal income, and education), environmental characteristics most strongly associated with obesity included low full-service restaurant density (OR 1.34; 95% CI 1.24–1.45), low county median household income (OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.21–1.42) and high convenience store density (OR 1.21; 95% CI 1.12–1.32). The strongest predictors of overall poor CVH behaviors were low county median household income (OR 1.30; 95% CI 1.13–1.51), low full-service restaurant density (OR 1.38; 95% CI 1.19–1.59), and low fitness facility density (OR 1.27; 95% CI 1.11–1.46).ConclusionsIn a rural state, both demographic and environmental factors predict overall poor CVH. These findings may help inform communities and policymakers of the impact of both social determinants of health and local environments on health outcomes.

Remedying Food Policy Invisibility with Spatial Intersectionality: A Case Study in the Detroit Metropolitan Area

This study examines the intersectionality of race/ethnicity and poverty in terms of geographic access to 2,635 food stores of three types (supermarkets, grocery stores, and convenience stores) in the tricounty Detroit metropolitan area (DMA). Prior research not only lacks an intersectional view of sociodemographic categories in explicating food store access, but it also fails to provide place-based policies to remedy food policy invisibility. The authors explore whether spatial dependencies among food stores exist and whether these are linked to sociodemographic heterogeneity in the DMA. Food stores are clustered across suburban and rural areas surrounding urban boundaries but are less clustered in the inner city. Poor neighborhoods have varying access to different types of food stores depending on the predominant racial/ethnic composition of the neighborhood. This research can assist policy makers in implementing place-based food interventions and policies, especially attracting new supermarkets and grocery stores to the urban DMA.

How do food retail choices vary within and between food retail environments?

There is mixed evidence on whether the local food environment explains differences in food choices. It is valuable in such research to use strong research designs, taking account of the endogeneity of household residential decisions. This article offers a literature review, emphasizing two promising approaches in the most recent research: (1) longitudinal studies of supermarket or retailer entry and exit within particular locations and (2) studies of variation in food choices across multiple households within particular locations. We review how these approaches address the endogeneity problem. Because this literature review indicates the importance of understanding variation across households within locations, our empirical analysis uses nationally representative data from USDA’s National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) to measure the expected values, variances, and intracluster correlations for selected outcome variables and explanatory variables typical of those used in studies of the food retail environment. We find that geographic variation in supermarket proximity does not account for most of the variation of a household’s choice of a primary food retailer and does not account for much of the high-level of variation across households in food security and dietary quality. These results and our review of the literature suggest that food store access may modestly influence food choices, but that other household-level factors may matter more.

Vegetable intake frequency is higher among the rural than among the urban or suburban residents, and is partially related to vegetable cultivation, receiving, and purchasing at farmers' markets: A cross-sectional study in a city within Gunma, Japan.

Objectives: This study aimed at identifying the differences in the vegetable intake frequency among rural, suburban, and urban residents. It also intended to estimate the effects of vegetable cultivation, receiving vegetables, and purchasing vegetables at farmers’ markets on the differences in vegetable intake frequency. Based on the results, to promote vegetable intake, we discuss the value of supporting vegetable cultivation in the rural areas.Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study targeting residents aged between 20 and 74, living in three parts of a city within the Gunma prefecture in Japan. The three locations were selected to represent the rural, suburban, and urban areas. We mailed two sets of anonymous self-administered questionnaires to all households in the three areas (a total of 2,260 households, comprising about 1,000 people aged between 20 and 74 in each area). The survey requested information on the vegetable intake frequency, vegetable cultivation, frequency of receiving vegetables, frequency of vegetable purchase at farmers’ markets, the subjective difficulty in food-store access, economic circumstances, health attitudes, and demographic characteristics. We used the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to examine the data obtained.Results: We received 873 responses (from 586 households), of which 90 were irrelevant, thus leaving a sample of 783 residents (257 rural, 259 suburban, 267 urban) available for statistical analysis. The results revealed that the rural residents had significantly greater vegetable intake frequency than the urban and suburban residents did. These regional differences became smaller after the adjustment of the following variables: vegetable cultivation, receiving vegetables, and vegetable purchase at farmers’ markets. No significant difference was observed in the vegetable intake frequency between the rural and urban respondents after this adjustment was made.Conclusions: Vegetable intake frequency was higher in the rural area than in the suburban and urban areas. Vegetable cultivation, receiving vegetables, and vegetable purchase at farmers’ markets were strongly linked to these regional differences.

Food Store Choices of Poor Households: A Discrete Choice Analysis of the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS)

Policymakers are pursing initiatives to increase food access for low‐income households. However, due in part to previous data deficiencies, there is still little evidence supporting the assumption that improved food store access will alter dietary habits, especially for the poorest of U.S. households. This article uses the new National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) to estimate consumer food outlet choices as a function of outlet type and household attributes in a multinomial mixed logit model. In particular, we allow for the composition of the local retail food environment to play a role in explaining household store choice decisions and food acquisition patterns. We find that households are willing to pay more per week in distance traveled to shop at superstores, supermarkets, and fast food outlets than at farmers markets and smaller grocery stores, and that willingness to pay is heterogeneous across income group, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation, and other household and food environment characteristics. Our results imply that policymakers should consider incentivizing the building of certain outlet types over others, and that Healthy Food Financing Initiatives should be designed to fit the sociodemographic composition of each identified low‐income, low‐access area in question.

The association between accessibility of local convenience stores and unhealthy diet.

High accessibility of unhealthy food stores may contribute to a poor dietary quality. Research on the link between neighbourhood food environment and consumption is limited, especially in a European context. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between convenience stores (CS) and dietary quality within the Capital Region of Denmark. Cross-sectional study of the geographic food environment in the Capital Region of Denmark based on 47 623 subjects (age 16+ years) with complete information on retail food environment and dietary quality. A categorization procedure to identify CS from a government list of inspected food stores (the Smiley register) was developed. Using GIS network analyses, density of CS within 0.25 km and 0.5 km network buffers from residency was calculated for participants in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, respectively. Information on dietary intake and confounders is derived from a questionnaire survey. Multi-level analyses were performed, adjusting for age, sex, individual socio-economic factors and area socio-economic status. In the non-metropolitan population, the odds of having an unhealthy diet increased significantly (P < 0.0001) with increased density of CS. Compared to individuals who did not have a CS within 0.5 km from their home, the odds ratios were 1.20 (95% CI: 1.09-1.33) and 1.37 (95% CI: 1.19-1.57) for individuals having 1 or ≥2 CS, respectively. In the fully adjusted model, the overall association remained significant (P = 0.015) and odds ratios diminished to 1.14 (1.02-1.27) and 1.18 (1.01-1.38). High accessibility of CS in neighbourhoods is associated with less healthy dietary habits among residents.

An analysis of differences in predictors of food affordability between rural and urban counties

abstractThis study addresses the extent to which county-level poverty, housing affordability, food store availability and access, and average SNAP benefits predict food affordability in Missouri counties using an ordinary least squares regression model. Emphasis was given to the difference between rural and urban counties. Bivariate analysis shows food affordability differs significantly between rural and urban counties. Multivariate analysis reveals the important impact of poverty on food affordability, an impact that is more noticeable in rural households. Additionally, the importance of SNAP benefits is amplified for rural households, whereas access is significant in predicting food affordability for urban households.

The Impact of Food Deserts on Food Insufficiency and SNAP Participation among the Elderly

Residents of neighborhoods with limited access to grocery stores may face barriers to obtaining adequate food for a healthy diet. Low‐income elderly may be uniquely affected by these so‐called “food deserts” due to limited transportation options, strong attachments to local neighborhoods, fixed incomes, and physical limitations for food shopping. Using 2006 and 2010 Health and Retirement Study data linked to census tract‐level measures of food deserts, this study measures whether living in a food desert affects food and material hardship, participation in food assistance programs, and the food spending of elderly adults. In both cross‐sectional and fixed effects regressions of elderly residents of urban counties, we find little evidence that living in a food desert affects these outcomes. We find, however, that individuals residing in a food desert without a vehicle are 12 percentage points more likely to report food insufficiency. Those SNAP recipients living in food deserts are 11 percentage points more likely to receive subsidized meals, while nonparticipants in food deserts and SNAP recipients outside of food deserts are less likely to receive subsidized meals. Our findings suggest that seniors without vehicles and SNAP recipients in food deserts may be the most vulnerable to limited food store access.

Does food store access modify associations between intrapersonal factors and fruit and vegetable consumption?

Existing theoretical frameworks suggest that healthy eating is facilitated by an individual's ability, motivation and environmental opportunities. It is plausible, although largely untested, that the importance of factors related to ability and motivation differ under varied environmental conditions. This study aimed to determine whether the magnitude of associations between fruit and vegetable consumption and intrapersonal factors (ability and motivation) were modified by differences in access to stores selling these items (environmental opportunities). Cross-sectional analysis of 4335 women from socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the state of Victoria, Australia. Self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption was assessed against a number of ability- and motivation-related factors. To examine whether associations were modified by store access, interactions with access to supermarkets and greengrocers within 2 km of participants' households were tested. Of the two factors related to ability and seven factors related to motivation, almost all were associated with fruit and vegetable consumption. In general, associations were not modified by store access suggesting that these factors were not tempered by environmental opportunities. This study provides little support for the hypothesis that the importance of intra-personal factors to fruit and vegetable consumption is modified by food store access. Further research on this topic is required to inform behaviour change interventions.

Relationship between dietary diversity and food access among elderly living alone in Saitama Prefecture

To examine the relationship between dietary diversity and food access among elderly living alone. In September 2013, a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted with 4,348 elderly aged 65-89 years, living in A city in Saitama Prefecture. The subjects answered about their health conditions, frequency of food consumption, difficulty of food store access, social support, food preparation, and so on. The response rate was 59.6%. The dietary diversity score (DDS) was calculated as the number of food groups consumed in a day (0 to 10). The DDS was validated by its association with independence and health status of the elderly. As indicators of food access, objective food access was measured using a geographic information system (GIS), and subjective food access was measured by the questionnaire. Responses of 1,043 subjects (452 male and 591 female) were analyzed after excluding those who live with others in an actual household composition. We classified the subjects into two groups according to the DDS: low group (three or less) and high group (four or more). Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted using the DDS groups as the dependent variable, and subjective food access and other factors as independent variables, adjusting for age, income, subjective economic status, education, and frailty status. The number of subjects in each group were as follows: low=107 (23.7%), high=345 (76.3%) for males, high=263 (44.5%), low=328 (55.5%) for females. A multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the difficulty in subjective food store access was associated with a low DDS in males [OR=4.00, 95% CI (1.36-11.82)] as well as in females [OR=2.24, 95% CI (1.11-4.51)]. Further, for females, social support and preparation of supper by oneself were significantly associated with their DDS. No significant relationships were found between objective food store access and DDS in both males and females. The DDS was strongly associated with subjective food store access among the elderly living alone. For females, social support and meal preparation skills were also suggested as important factors affecting their DDS.

Spatial-temporal modeling of neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics and food stores.

The literature on food stores, neighborhood poverty, and race/ethnicity is mixed and lacks methods of accounting for complex spatial and temporal clustering of food resources. We used quarterly data on supermarket and convenience store locations from Nielsen TDLinx (Nielsen Holdings N.V., New York, New York) spanning 7 years (2006-2012) and census tract-based neighborhood sociodemographic data from the American Community Survey (2006-2010) to assess associations between neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics and food store distributions in the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) of 4 US cities (Birmingham, Alabama; Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and San Francisco, California). We fitted a space-time Poisson regression model that accounted for the complex spatial-temporal correlation structure of store locations by introducing space-time random effects in an intrinsic conditionally autoregressive model within a Bayesian framework. After accounting for census tract-level area, population, their interaction, and spatial and temporal variability, census tract poverty was significantly and positively associated with increasing expected numbers of supermarkets among tracts in all 4 MSAs. A similar positive association was observed for convenience stores in Birmingham, Minneapolis, and San Francisco; in Chicago, a positive association was observed only for predominantly white and predominantly black tracts. Our findings suggest a positive association between greater numbers of food stores and higher neighborhood poverty, with implications for policy approaches related to food store access by neighborhood poverty.

Measuring Food Access and Food Deserts for Policy Purposes†

AbstractPolicymakers have dedicated increasing attention to whether Americans have access to healthful food. As a result, various methods for measuring food store access at the national level have been developed to identify areas that lack access. However, these methods face definitional, data, and methodological limitations. The focus on neighborhoods instead of individuals underestimates the barriers that some individuals face in accessing healthy food, and overestimates the problem in other neighborhoods. This paper reviews and critiques currently available national‐level measures of food access. While multiple measures of food access are needed to understand the problem, we recommend greater attention be paid to individual measures of food store access.