TY - JOUR
T1 - Healthful and less-healthful foods and drinks from storefront and non-storefront businesses
T2 - Implications for 'food deserts', 'food swamps' and food-source disparities
AU - Lucan, Sean C.
AU - Maroko, Andrew R.
AU - Patel, Achint N.
AU - Gjonbalaj, Ilirjan
AU - Elbel, Brian
AU - Schechter, Clyde B.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their help in translating the data collection sheet used in interacting with street vendors: Nandini Deb and Mahbooba Akhter Kabita for assistance with translation into Bengali; Gustavo Hernandez and Monica Varona for assistance with translation into Spanish. S.C.L. would like to acknowledge A. Hal Strelnick for mentorship. Financial support: S.C.L. is supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award K23HD079606. The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Student stipends from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine helped support data collection. The study used REDCap electronic data capture tools hosted through the Harold and Muriel Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Einstein and Montefiore under grant UL1 TR001073. This work was also partially supported by the New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research under grant P30 DK111022. Grant R01DK097347 through the NYU School of Medicine helped support data cleaning and analyses. Conflict of interest: S.C.L. serves on the Scientific and Nutritional Advisory Board of Epicure (a Canadian food product and cookware company). Authorship: S.C.L. co-conceived the study, conducted the literature review, designed the data-collection protocols, oversaw primary data collection, performed analyses and drafted the manuscript (including tables and figure). A.N.P. and I.G. performed primary data collection and assisted with data analysis and interpretation. A.R.M. guided the sampling strategy, performed geocoding, assisted with data analyses and data interpretation and created maps for the figure. B.E. co-conceived the study. C.B.S. oversaw and conducted data analysis and assisted with data interpretation. All authors helped revise the manuscript. Ethics of human subject participation: The current study did not involve human subjects. Primary data collection from 2015 was approved by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine IRB, as part of a broader study, under federal regulations 45 CFR 46.110 and 21 CFR 56.110.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Authors 2020.
PY - 2020/6/1
Y1 - 2020/6/1
N2 - Objective: Conceptualisations of 'food deserts' (areas lacking healthful food/drink) and 'food swamps' (areas overwhelm by less-healthful fare) may be both inaccurate and incomplete. Our objective was to more accurately and completely characterise food/drink availability in urban areas.Design: Cross-sectional assessment of select healthful and less-healthful food/drink offerings from storefront businesses (stores, restaurants) and non-storefront businesses (street vendors).Setting: Two areas of New York City: the Bronx (higher-poverty, mostly minority) and the Upper East Side (UES; wealthier, predominantly white).Participants: All businesses on 63 street segments in the Bronx (n 662) and on 46 street segments in the UES (n 330).Results: Greater percentages of businesses offered any, any healthful, and only less-healthful food/drink in the Bronx (42·0 %, 37·5 %, 4·4 %, respectively) than in the UES (30 %, 27·9 %, 2·1 %, respectively). Differences were driven mostly by businesses (e.g. newsstands, gyms, laundromats) not primarily focused on selling food/drink - 'other storefront businesses' (OSBs). OSBs accounted for 36·0 % of all food/drink-offering businesses in the Bronx (more numerous than restaurants or so-called 'food stores') and 18·2 % in the UES (more numerous than 'food stores'). Differences also related to street vendors in both the Bronx and the UES. If street vendors and OSBs were not captured, the missed percentages of street segments offering food/drink would be 14·5 % in the Bronx and 21·9 % in the UES.Conclusions: Of businesses offering food/drink in communities, OSBs and street vendors can represent substantial percentages. Focusing on only 'food stores' and restaurants may miss or mischaracterise 'food deserts', 'food swamps', and food/drink-source disparities between communities.
AB - Objective: Conceptualisations of 'food deserts' (areas lacking healthful food/drink) and 'food swamps' (areas overwhelm by less-healthful fare) may be both inaccurate and incomplete. Our objective was to more accurately and completely characterise food/drink availability in urban areas.Design: Cross-sectional assessment of select healthful and less-healthful food/drink offerings from storefront businesses (stores, restaurants) and non-storefront businesses (street vendors).Setting: Two areas of New York City: the Bronx (higher-poverty, mostly minority) and the Upper East Side (UES; wealthier, predominantly white).Participants: All businesses on 63 street segments in the Bronx (n 662) and on 46 street segments in the UES (n 330).Results: Greater percentages of businesses offered any, any healthful, and only less-healthful food/drink in the Bronx (42·0 %, 37·5 %, 4·4 %, respectively) than in the UES (30 %, 27·9 %, 2·1 %, respectively). Differences were driven mostly by businesses (e.g. newsstands, gyms, laundromats) not primarily focused on selling food/drink - 'other storefront businesses' (OSBs). OSBs accounted for 36·0 % of all food/drink-offering businesses in the Bronx (more numerous than restaurants or so-called 'food stores') and 18·2 % in the UES (more numerous than 'food stores'). Differences also related to street vendors in both the Bronx and the UES. If street vendors and OSBs were not captured, the missed percentages of street segments offering food/drink would be 14·5 % in the Bronx and 21·9 % in the UES.Conclusions: Of businesses offering food/drink in communities, OSBs and street vendors can represent substantial percentages. Focusing on only 'food stores' and restaurants may miss or mischaracterise 'food deserts', 'food swamps', and food/drink-source disparities between communities.
KW - Disparities
KW - Food environment
KW - Food stores
KW - Mobile food vendors
KW - Restaurants
KW - Street vendors
KW - Urban
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85082697154&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85082697154&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1368980019004427
DO - 10.1017/S1368980019004427
M3 - Article
C2 - 32223780
AN - SCOPUS:85082697154
SN - 1368-9800
VL - 23
SP - 1428
EP - 1439
JO - Public Health Nutrition
JF - Public Health Nutrition
IS - 8
ER -