The availability of healthy food choices and your
quality of diet is associated with where you
live, according to two studies conducted by researchers at
the Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Researchers examined healthy food availability and
diet quality among Baltimore City and
Baltimore County residents and found that availability of
healthy foods was associated with quality of
diet and that 46 percent of lower-income neighborhoods had
a low availability of healthy foods. The
results are published in the March issue of the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the
December 2008 issue of the American Journal of
Preventive Medicine.
"Place of residence plays a larger role in dietary
health than previously estimated," said Manuel
Franco, lead author of the studies and an associate with
the Bloomberg School's Department of
Epidemiology. "Our findings show that participants who
live in neighborhoods with low healthy food
availability are at an increased risk of consuming a
lower-quality diet. We also found that 24 percent
of the black participants lived in neighborhoods with a low
availability of healthy food compared with 5
percent of white participants."
Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study to
examine the association between the
availability of healthy foods and diet quality among 759
participants of a population-based
cardiovascular cohort study, the Multi-Ethnic Study of
Atherosclerosis, known as MESA.
Using a food frequency questionnaire, Franco, along with
colleagues from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and
the universities of Michigan and Texas, summarized diet
into two dietary patterns reflecting low- and
high-quality diet. The availability of healthy foods was
assessed by examining food stores within
MESA participants' neighborhood or census tract, their
closest food store and all food stores within
one mile of their residence. Availability of healthy foods
in each food store was assessed by measuring
the availability of items such as fresh fruits and
vegetables, skim milk and whole wheat bread as
recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Their
findings were reported in the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
In the American Journal of Preventive Medicine,
Franco, along with colleagues from the Johns
Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of Michigan,
examined the differences in the
availability of healthy foods across 159 neighborhoods and
226 neighborhood stores in Baltimore City
and Baltimore County. Researchers found that 43 percent of
predominantly black neighborhoods and
46 percent of lower-income neighborhoods fell under the
category of low availability of healthy foods,
versus 4 percent and 13 percent, respectively, in
predominantly white and higher-income
neighborhoods. In addition, supermarkets in predominantly
white and higher-income neighborhoods
had higher levels of healthy food availability compared to
supermarkets located in lower-income
neighborhoods and predominantly black neighborhoods.
"Previous studies have suggested that race and income
are related to healthy food intake, and
our choice of foods plays a major role in our health and
diet," said Benjamin Caballero, professor at
the Bloomberg School's
Department of
International Health. "Our studies show that where you
live is
a major determinant of your health. The joint efforts of
public health researchers in collaboration
with community groups and policy-makers will be required to
effectively change the current picture of
the less-than-optimal availability of recommended healthy
foods."
"Availability of Health Foods and Dietary Patterns:
The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis"
was written by Franco, Ana V. Diez-Roux, Jennifer A.
Nettleton, Mariana Lazo, Frederick L. Brancati,
Caballero, Thomas A. Glass and Latetia V. Moore.
"Neighborhood Characteristics and Availability of
Healthy Foods in Baltimore" was written by
Franco, Diez-Roux, Glass, Caballero and Brancati.
The research was funded by the Center for a Livable
Future at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health.
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