Hello!
The continuing
education article we have chosen for October is titled “Food Acquisition and
Shopping Patterns among Residents of Low-Income and Low-Access Communities in
South Carolina.” This article seeks to better understand how those living in
food deserts shop for and obtain food. This is a very interesting and relevant
topic because of the negative health consequences linked to those with
insufficient access to food, developments of where there are food deserts
throughout the United States, and a desire to implement changes moving forward.
Some of the variables considered in this study are transportation, frequency of
store visits, and use of food assistance programs. The abstract is included below and you can
access the full text with the following link. https://jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(18)30651-8/fulltext
Please feel free to share any
thoughts, impressions, or questions you have about the results, outcomes, or
validity of this research study. Try to think about some of the questions you
might ask or things you would consider, having read this study, if you were
working to improve the accessibility of food for people living in food deserts.
How does this article give you insight into effective change? What additional
information would you have liked to be gathered from this population that would
make reducing food deserts easier?
Thanks for your participation in
this month’s blog post! We will continue to facilitate conversation throughout
the month so check back frequently.
Katie and Stephanie
Abstract
Background
Little is known about the food acquisition and shopping habits
of residents living in food deserts.
Objective
To identify distinct food acquisition and shopping patterns
among residents, most of whom (81%) live in food desert (low income and low
access) census tracts, and characterize these patterns with respect to the
residents’ socioeconomic status, nutrition knowledge, and perceptions of their
food environment.
Design
This is a cross-sectional study.
Participants/setting
Four hundred sixty-six primary food shoppers were included from
two counties in South Carolina during 2013-2014.
Main outcome measures
Participants’ self-reported food acquisition and shopping
habits, including shopping distance; frequency; store type; transportation
mode; use of farmers’ markets, food banks/pantries, and church/social service
organizations, were used to develop shopping patterns and group residents.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation, food security, income,
and education, nutrition knowledge, and perceptions of the food environment
were used to characterize these groups.
Statistical analyses performed
Latent class analysis and multinomial logistic regression were
used to identify and characterize patterns, respectively.
Results
Three patterns were identified, including those who use
community food resources, are infrequent grocery shoppers, and use someone
else’s car or public transportation when shopping (Class 1) (35%), those who
use community food resources and are more frequent and proximal shoppers (Class
2) (41%), and those who do not use community food resources and are distal
shoppers (Class 3) (24%). Compared with Class 3, Class 1 had comparatively
lower socioeconomic status. Class 2 also had comparatively lower socioeconomic
attributes except for income. Class 2 was not significantly different from
Class 1 except that a higher proportion in Class 1 saw food access as a
problem. No significant differences across classes were found regarding fruit
and vegetable recommendation knowledge.
Conclusions
Shopping frequency, use of community food resources,
transportation methods, and shopping distance were the key factors that defined
distinct patterns among residents living in low-income areas. Future
interventions to increase healthy food access in underserved areas should not
only consider accessibility but also community food resource use.
posted by Stephanie Ormsby @ 10:33 AM
10 comments
10 Comments:
Although I feel like this study did not necessarily present new information about food deserts that we don't already know, I thought their study setup and specific methodology was super impressive! The way they integrated technology, such as geotagging/coding, reminds me of just how useful all our technological advancements can be to assist us in being better researchers. The fact that they were able to break this study into four meaningful parts also made it more enjoyable to read and comprehend.
After reading this article, I had to ask myself about how much progress we have REALLY made in combatting these nutrition based issues. I know for me, I have been reading articles about this topic for about the last 6 years and the fact it continues to be a heavily researched topic makes me think we haven't made as much progress as possible in assisting these specific populations. Outside of research, I can't help but wonder what efforts are being made to bring access to nutritious food. Are RD's having discussions with local farmers about selling their produce/products at markets located in these food desert areas? Or, do farmers even know they have the power to assist in issues such as the ones presented in the article? I guess overall this article has sparked some questions in my mind about what we can do as future RD's to help combat food insecurity in low-income and low-access communities.
Come on, everyone! Let's hear some feedback! What do you think about this chosen article? I agree with Sam in that the study did not provide us with novel information. However, it is still a very pertinent study with beneficial information. Again, like Sam mentioned, what do you all think can be done to help alleviate the food deserts in America? What actions and step shave been taken to correct these issues?
Sam,
I agree with you that the study did not present much new information about food deserts or food access, but I do think it revealed more factors to think about such as, for example, interactions with farmers and farmers markets like you mentioned. Another factor presented in the article that I did not previously consider was how community resources like food banks were related to food deserts, such as if people in food deserts were using, knew about, or even had access to community resources. I was slightly surprised that only ~50% of the people in the study used community or church resources. I also agree with you that although food insecurity has been nationally recognized as a problem, there is not much being done to combat food deserts.
There are so many obstacles to eating healthy food (such as price, knowledge, ability to cook, etc) and this article made me consider how difficult it would be to live in a low-SES food desert in addition to all these other factors. A major idea that I took away from the article is the importance of having transportation. To quote paragraph 4 in the discussion section of the article, “Emerging literature has found that access to a vehicle or public transportation is increasingly associated with greater access to healthy food choices, especially in low-income communities”. In this study specifically, only 44% of the participants used their own vehicle to get to their most-visited (and closest) store. I think that this is a major obstacle to food access and one that could be solved by using buses or carpooling. In Bloomington-Normal there are several bus lines that drop riders off at/near almost all major grocery stores; although this is much more difficult in smaller towns that lack this available service, it is an idea to consider.
Additionally, I like how Sam mentioned the importance that RD’s have in solving this problem, because it is within a dietitian’s job description to remove obstacles to healthy eating and this is definitely one of them.
Jaime,
I think you pointed out a really important piece of the article. Again, it makes me wonder whether public transportation knows that they play a HUGE role in assisting with these types of issues. How wonderful would it be for them to be aware of such a large problem, and then have them take initiative in sending out buses to neglected areas that are truly desperate for public transportation. AND YES JAIME, we could totally brush it off and say, "that's not our job to fix" when in reality, RD's should take a part in resolving this issue.
I think research like this is great because it does bring a reminder to professionals that these problems do still exist, even if the population they work with does not. Though, I feel very few dietetics professionals' client groups have no problems with access to food. I agree with Jaime, the fact that only 50% of the participants use community resources is unfortunate to see. Is it from not know these sources are available, is it the stigma? Though I know it was not the focus of this study and there are studies that go over the reason behind these populations' issues, it would be nice if food dessert studies encompassed all parts of food security - emotional and physical restraints. I did find it interesting that the educational level was overall even between not finishing high school, high school graduate and some college, though the pay was very uneven trending towards household incomes less than $10k. Honestly, it is no wonder that there are food security issues if a families' income would barely be able to cover rent, electric bills, medical bills, and other necessities before food. I feel as professionals in this field it is our duty to advocate for this population and what can be done to better healthy eating. Things such as writing or supporting policies that help produce farmers be paid more like the grain farmers in America, policies that help public transportation and roads (which many communities have poor roads so some food distributors do not go to those towns), and policies that support community resources and government support resources like SNAP and WIC. As well as being advocates in our own communities- supporting farmers markets especially ones that accept SNAP, volunteering at community centers and resource centers, working on breaking down the stigma that getting help is a bad thing. Though this research is not breakthrough information, these studies need to continue until our field is able to have more steady policies in place that work on resolving food insecurity.
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This has always been one of my favorite topics so I’m excited to weigh in on this issue (and pardon the extremely long post...). I think everyone has brought up great points about food insecurity. I was able to teach a lecture in my policy class on this topic which encouraged me to do a lot of research on food insecurity and food deserts. I read a study (which is cited in this article) that found that adding supermarkets to food deserts doesn’t always solve the problem (if only it was that easy, right?) The study found that while people’s perception of access increased, their behavior did not. So, many times these individuals still wouldn’t shop at the new grocery store. This study found that this could be related to the fact that the grocery store may not sell cheaper food or people were afraid to have more choices which could lead to overspending when they are already on a tight budget. The other reason was people may not know how to cook so they may not know what to do with some of the fresh items offered at the grocery store.
This article also touches on transportation as an issue. Some of you have commented about transportation factors in rural vs urban areas. I agree that transportation in rural areas is even more difficult than in urban thanks to public transportation, but I also wanted to comment on individuals who deal with health problems or disabilities. Poor health and disabilities are a huge contributing factor to the cause of food insecurity for some individuals. Sometimes these individuals may have trouble getting to a location where community food resources are available even if they do have transportation. While this study was done in South Carolina, imagine how it would impact these individuals in places where the winters are blustery and frigid. There are just so many factors to consider when it comes to our behaviors and actions surrounding nutrition.
I think one thing that will be necessary to “fix” or alleviate the problems with food insecurity are more dietitians getting involved with policy making and just advocating in general. I think being aware of what is happening on a state and federal level is important because it’s easy for services associated with food insecurity/ deserts to be cut without much uproar about it.
Paige, I immediately thought of that food insecurity project you did last semester when reading this. I am glad you commented:) Two things. Firstly, I love that you noted how food insecurity may be influencing those with disabilities. It is something I had not considered, but makes a lot of sense. I have done a great deal of work at local food pantries, and now that I think of it, many food pantry users have disabilities. Secondly, I totally agree that RDs need to be active and involved if we want to see food insecurity diminish. We need to be advocates for those who cannot advocate for themselves.
Everyone, what are ways that we as dietetic interns (and almost RDs) can help diminish food insecurity, even in our own communities? Any suggestions?
As someone from Bloomington Normal, I know the area has many food banks and food pantries. I think this is a huge step in aiding the food insecure in our community. Because my thesis is about food banks, I have gotten connected with two especially, and have therefore, been able to volunteer there. Though it does not seem like much, it is the least I can do to begin putting and end to food insecurity in Blono.
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