Food Access, Availability, and Affordability in 3 Los Angeles Communities, Project CAFE, 2004-2006

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Vallianatos, Mark ; Azuma, Andrea Misako ; Gilliland, Susan ; Gottlieb, Robert
• Description:
  Introduction ; Racial/ethnic minority communities are at increasingly high risk for chronic diseases related to obesity. Access to stores that sell affordable, nutritious food is a prerequisite for adopting a healthful diet. The objective of this study was to evaluate food access, availability, and affordability in 3 nonoverlapping but similar low-income communities in urban Los Angeles, California. ; Methods ; Using a community-based participatory research approach, we trained community members to conduct a food assessment to 1) map the number and type of retail food outlets in a defined area and 2) survey a sample of stores to determine whether they sold selected healthful foods and how much those foods cost. We used descriptive statistics to summarize findings. ; Results ; Of the 1,273 food establishments mapped in the 3 neighborhoods, 1,023 met the criteria of "retail food outlet." The most common types of retail food outlets were fast-food restaurants (30%) and convenience/liquor/corner stores (22%). Supermarkets made up less than 2% of the total. Convenience/liquor/corner stores offered fewer than half of the selected healthful foods and sold healthful foods at higher prices than did supermarkets. ; Conclusions ; Access to stores that sell affordable healthful food is a problem in urban Los Angeles communities. Healthful food strategies should focus on changing food environments to improve overall community health.
• Subjects:
  • Commerce
  • Data Collection
  • Food
  • Food Supply
  • Health Behavior
  • Humans
  • Interviews as Topic
  • Nutrition Policy
  • Urban Population
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 7(2).
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Los Angeles, CA
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  7
• Issue:
  2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/20436/cdc_20436_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 411.64 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:229e2f629174caf2622c0dd72378b608baf0070872e4c0ef0169b4c4393454f8668e9198e3e2acdac9f20ee29a8b402dcdb90e6354b8b01b06ba665b17e7d124