Associations between access to farmers’ markets and supermarkets, shopping patterns, fruit and vegetable consumption and health indicators among women of reproductive age in eastern North Carolina, USA

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Public Health Nutr
• Personal Author:
  Pitts, Stephanie B Jilcott ; Wu, Qiang ; McGuirt, Jared T ; Crawford, Thomas W ; Keyserling, Thomas C ; Ammerman, Alice S
• Description:
  Objective
  
  We examined associations between access to food venues (farmers’ markets and supermarkets), shopping patterns, fruit and vegetable consumption and health indicators among women of reproductive age in eastern North Carolina, USA.
  
  Design
  
  Access to food venues was measured using a Geographic Information System incorporating distance, seasonality and business hours, to quantify access to farmers’ markets. Produce consumption was assessed by self-report of eating five or more fruits and vegetables daily. BMI and blood pressure were assessed by clinical measurements. Poisson regression with robust variance was used for dichotomous outcomes and multiple linear regression was used for continuous outcomes. As the study occurred in a university town and university students are likely to have different shopping patterns from non-students, we stratified analyses by student status.
  
  Setting
  
  Eastern North Carolina.
  
  Subjects
  
  Low-income women of reproductive age (18–44 years) with valid address information accessing family planning services at a local health department (n 400).
  
  Results
  
  Over a quarter reported ever shopping at farmers’ markets (114/400). A larger percentage of women who shopped at farmers’ markets consumed five or more fruits and vegetables daily (42·1%) than those who did not (24·0%; P<0·001). The mean objectively measured distance to men reported shopping was 11·4 (SD 9·0) km (7·1 (SD 5·6) miles), while the mean distance to the farmers’ market closest to the residence was 4·0 (SD 3·7) km (2·5 (SD 2·3) miles).
  
  Conclusions
  
  Among non-students, those who shopped at farmers’ markets were more likely to consume five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Future research should further explore potential health benefits of farmers’ markets.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Agriculture Body Mass Index Commerce Diet Female Food Habits Food Supply Fruit Health Behavior Health Status Humans Poverty Students Vegetables Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  Public Health Nutr. 2013; 16(11):1944-1952.
• Pubmed ID:
  23701901
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC3795819
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  5R03CA155362-02/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States ; 5U48DP001944/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States ; R03 CA155362/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina
• Volume:
  16
• Issue:
  11
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:06151b0a9bb1ac7ef343ba2bd5ddb2e9b9035df0c4d21895af7ad65396fa4ad1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/29754/cdc_29754_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 238.21 KB ]