"Food Deserts"

A question we focused on last week was : What can be done for people in terms of scarcity and resources when they are trying to eat healthy? As we know, fresh vegetables and fruits are not equally accessible to everyone, forcing people to take the easy route - eating unhealthily. The opportunity costs of the lack of these resources for people can pile on, beginning with obesity and eventually leading to lower worker productivity, early death, and more expensive medical bills. But can we really say that the lack of access to healthy food causes obesity? Or is it more fitting to say there is only a correlation?

This issue of not having enough resources in certain areas relating to food specifically, or having a scarce amount, is known as a food desert. A food desert is generally considered to be a place where residents do not have access to affordable nutritious foods. The nearest supermarket can be up to 20 miles away. These areas typically only has convenience stores and gas stations, which are filled with cheap, sugary, processed foods. In the United States, it is said that there are at least 23 million people who live in a food desert. 82% of these people reside in urban areas, but food deserts can be in rural communities as well.

Michelle Obama even looked at food deserts at their height in 2009. She declared that she focused on food deserts "because access was a social justice issue." The people proportionately affected by food deserts were low-income African- American communities leading too extreme, unfair health issues. But people tested this idea by exposing these low-income, food desert communities to the same availability and prices that high-income households were having. After following the study, they concluded that the addition of supermarkets only reduced nutritional inequality by 9%. This study and many others that are similar have all shown that projects to improve food deserts have not helped diets or weight status for shoppers.

So why do many people believe that there is a causation between food deserts and obesity? I think because it makes sense, but also people try to be kind and compassionate. Of course we all want to fight obesity, so blaming the environment is more comfortable than the person's personal responsibility to their health. Also, in order to address personal behavior we need to address parts of the environment in which people live in at the same time.

Regardless of the what the study found, adding supermarkets to food deserts can slowly get the ball rolling. Even though obesity cannot be fixed by the introduction of grocery stores, it can help people raise awareness that there are more options. There are other marginal benefits that can come with the addition of a supermarket, such as jobs, more investment, and a safer community. In order to improve low-income communities in multiple ways, grocery stores need to be completely accessible.

Sources: https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-are-food-deserts-4165971

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/food-deserts-dont-cause-obesity-but-that-doesnt-mean-they-dont-matter/2018/08/22/df31afc0-a61b-11e8-a656-943eefab5daf_story.html