A comparison of the availability and affordability of a market basket in two communities in the Chicago area

Block, Daniel; Kouba, Joanne

doi:10.1017/phn2005924

Cited by 277 publications

(245 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…For example, the findings reported here mirror those from an earlier study in Chicago (32) which found that 'independent' and 'liquor' stores in an urban area tended to stock the poorest-quality fresh produce. Analogous shops in the present study are 'small' and 'non-food' (where food is secondary) stores.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Variations in fresh fruit and vegetable quality by store type, urban–rural setting and neighbourhood deprivation in Scotland

Cummins

Smith

Taylor

et al. 2009

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: Neighbourhood differences in access to fresh fruit and vegetables may explain social inequalities in diet. Investigations have focused on variations in cost and availability as barriers to the purchase and consumption of fresh produce; investigations of quality have been neglected. Here we investigate whether produce quality systematically varies by food store type, rural-urban location and neighbourhood deprivation in a selection of communities across Scotland. Design: Cross-sectional survey of twelve fresh fruit and vegetable items in 288 food stores in ten communities across Scotland. Communities were selected to reflect a range of urban-rural settings and a food retail census was conducted in each location. The quality of twelve fruit and vegetable items within each food store was evaluated. Data from the Scottish Executive were used to characterise each small area by deprivation and urban-rural classification. Setting: Scotland. Results: Quality of fruit and vegetables within the surveyed stores was high. Medium-sized stores, stores in small town and rural areas, and stores in more affluent areas tended to have the highest-quality fresh fruit and vegetables. Stores where food is secondary, stores in urban settings and stores in more deprived areas tended have the lowest-quality fresh produce. Although differences in quality were not always statistically significant, patterns were consistent for the majority of fruit and vegetable items. Conclusions: The study provides evidence that variations in food quality may plausibly be a micro-environmental mediating variable in food purchase and consumption and help partially explain neighbourhood differences in food consumption patterns.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Variations in fresh fruit and vegetable quality by store type, urban–rural setting and neighbourhood deprivation in Scotland

Cummins

Smith

Taylor

et al. 2009

Public Health Nutr.

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“…25,27 Block et al in suburban Chicago and Connell et al in the lower Mississippi delta enumerated the items that were available from a standard "market basket" and found that supermarkets contained nearly 100% of the fresh fruits and vegetables, but small independent groceries contained 29-45% and convenience stores contained only 8-28% of these items. 24,28 In contrast, both Block and Connell found that supermarkets contained nearly 100%, independent smaller groceries contained 60-71%, and convenience stores contained 48-68% of the fats, oils, sugars, and sweets in their market baskets-indicating that customers have more extensive choices in calorie-dense items than fruits and vegetables in smaller stores. 24,28 To our knowledge, this is the first study that has measured the length of shelf space allotted to these items in the USA.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…24,28 In contrast, both Block and Connell found that supermarkets contained nearly 100%, independent smaller groceries contained 60-71%, and convenience stores contained 48-68% of the fats, oils, sugars, and sweets in their market baskets-indicating that customers have more extensive choices in calorie-dense items than fruits and vegetables in smaller stores. 24,28 To our knowledge, this is the first study that has measured the length of shelf space allotted to these items in the USA. In addition, very few studies have considered liquor stores and drug stores as sources of food, even though these stores may be important sources of food for families that do not own cars or live in neighborhoods that are distant from supermarkets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Measuring the Food Environment: Shelf Space of Fruits, Vegetables, and Snack Foods in Stores

et al. 2009

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Dietary patterns may be influenced by the availability and accessibility within stores of different types of foods. However, little is known about the amount of shelf space used for healthy and unhealthy foods in different types of stores. We conducted measurements of the length of shelf space used for fruits, vegetables, and snack foods items in 419 stores in 217 urban census tracts in southern Louisiana and in Los Angeles County. Although supermarkets offered far more shelf space of fruits and vegetables than did other types of stores, they also devoted more shelf space to unhealthy snacks (mean 205 m for all of these items combined) than to fruits and vegetables (mean 117 m, pG0.001). After supermarkets, drug stores devoted the most shelf space to unhealthy items. The ratio of the total shelf space for fruits and vegetables to the total shelf space for these unhealthy snack items was the lowest (0.10 or below) and very similar in convenience stores, drug stores, and liquor stores, was in a middle range (0.18 to 0.30) in small food stores, and was highest in medium-sized food stores (0.40 to 0.61) and supermarkets (0.55 to 0.72). Simple measurements of shelf space can be used by researchers to characterize the healthfulness of the food environment and by policymakers to establish criteria for favorable policy treatment of stores.

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“…However, a reduction from 400 to sixty-seven analytical units resulted in too few samples per cell. We selected socio-economic variables according to population characteristics demonstrated in the literature to be especially vulnerable to having poor access to healthy food (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(34)(35)(36)40) . Low education was defined by the percentage of 16-to 85-year-olds in each neighbourhood lacking a high-school diploma.…”

Section: Neighbourhood Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supermarket and fast-food outlet exposure in Copenhagen: associations with socio-economic and demographic characteristics

Svastisalee

Nordahl

Glümer

et al. 2011

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To investigate whether exposure to fast-food outlets and supermarkets is socio-economically patterned in the city of Copenhagen. Design: The study was based on a cross-sectional multivariate approach to examine the association between the number of fast-food outlets and supermarkets and neighbourhood-level socio-economic indicators. Food business addresses were obtained from commercial and public business locators and geocoded using a geographic information system for all neighbourhoods in the city of Copenhagen (n 400). The regression of counts of fast-food outlets and supermarkets v. indicators of socio-economic status (percentage of recent immigrants, percentage without a high-school diploma, percentage of the population under 35 years of age and average household income in Euros) was performed using negative binomial analysis. Setting: Copenhagen, Denmark. Subjects: The unit of analysis was neighbourhood (n 400). Results: In the fully adjusted models, income was not a significant predictor for supermarket exposure. However, neighbourhoods with low and mid-low income were associated with significantly fewer fast-food outlets. Using backwise deletion from the fully adjusted models, low income remained significantly associated with fast-food outlet exposure (rate ratio 5 0?66-0?80) in the final model. Conclusions: In the city of Copenhagen, there was no evidence of spatial patterning of supermarkets by income. However, we detected a trend in the exposure to fast-food outlets, such that neighbourhoods in the lowest income quartile had fewer fast-food outlets than higher-income neighbourhoods. These findings have similarities with studies conducted in the UK, but not in the USA. The results suggest there may be socio-economic factors other than income associated with food exposure in Europe.

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A comparison of the availability and affordability of a market basket in two communities in the Chicago area

Cited by 277 publications

References 19 publications

Variations in fresh fruit and vegetable quality by store type, urban–rural setting and neighbourhood deprivation in Scotland

Variations in fresh fruit and vegetable quality by store type, urban–rural setting and neighbourhood deprivation in Scotland

Measuring the Food Environment: Shelf Space of Fruits, Vegetables, and Snack Foods in Stores

Supermarket and fast-food outlet exposure in Copenhagen: associations with socio-economic and demographic characteristics

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