The DOI matches its Crossref record; 49 of the 49 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Food Swamps Predict Obesity Rates Better Than Food Deserts in the United States
Open accessAbstract
This paper investigates the effect of food environments, characterized as food swamps, on adult obesity rates. Food swamps have been described as areas with a high-density of establishments selling high-calorie fast food and junk food, relative to healthier food options. This study examines multiple ways of categorizing food environments as food swamps and food deserts, including alternate versions of the Retail Food Environment Index. We merged food outlet, sociodemographic and obesity data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Environment Atlas, the American Community Survey, and a commercial street reference dataset. We employed an instrumental variables (IV) strategy to correct for the endogeneity of food environments (i.e., that individuals self-select into neighborhoods and may consider food availability in their decision). Our results suggest that the presence of a food swamp is a stronger predictor of obesity rates than the absence of full-service grocery stores. We found, even after controlling for food desert effects, food swamps have a positive, statistically significant effect on adult obesity rates. All three food swamp measures indicated the same positive association, but reflected different magnitudes of the food swamp effect on rates of adult obesity (p values ranged from 0.00 to 0.16). Our adjustment for reverse causality, using an IV approach, revealed a stronger effect of food swamps than would have been obtained by naïve ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates. The food swamp effect was stronger in counties with greater income inequality (p < 0.05) and where residents are less mobile (p < 0.01). Based on these findings, local government policies such as zoning laws simultaneously restricting access to unhealthy food outlets and incentivizing healthy food retailers to locate in underserved neighborhoods warrant consideration as strategies to increase health equity.
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Cites
Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States: A review of food deserts literature
Walker, R. E., Keane, C. R., & Burke, J. G. (2010) · Health & Place · doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.04.013 · Cited by 1,716
Morland, K., Wing, S., & Roux, A. D. (2002) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.92.11.1761 · Cited by 1,289
An economic analysis of adult obesity: results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
Chou, S.-Y., Grossman, M., & Saffer, H. (2004) · Journal of Health Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2003.10.003 · Cited by 1,055
Supermarkets, Other Food Stores, and Obesity
Morland, K., Diez Roux, A. V., & Wing, S. (2006) · American Journal of Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2005.11.003 · Cited by 1,037
Zenk, S. N., Schulz, A. J., Israel, B. A., James, S. A., Bao, S., & Wilson, M. L. (2005) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2004.042150 · Cited by 981
Patchy progress on obesity prevention: emerging examples, entrenched barriers, and new thinking
Roberto, C. A., Swinburn, B., Hawkes, C., Huang, T. T.-K., Costa, S. A., Ashe, M., Zwicker, L., Cawley, J. H., & Brownell, K. D. (2015) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(14)61744-x · Cited by 939
Self-citationAssociations of Neighborhood Characteristics With the Location and Type of Food Stores
Moore, L. V., & Diez Roux, A. V. (2006) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2004.058040 · Cited by 929
Fast food, race/ethnicity, and income
Block, J. P., Scribner, R. A., & DeSalvo, K. B. (2004) · American Journal of Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2004.06.007 · Cited by 801
Frank, L. D., Saelens, B. E., Powell, K. E., & Chapman, J. E. (2007) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.05.053 · Cited by 693
A Review of Environmental Influences on Food Choices
Larson, N., & Story, M. (2009) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12160-009-9120-9 · Cited by 539
Cited by
Food Insecurity, Health, and Development in Children Under Age Four Years
Drennen, C. R., Coleman, S. M., Ettinger de Cuba, S., Frank, D. A., Chilton, M., Cook, J. T., Cutts, D. B., Heeren, T., Casey, P. H., & Black, M. M. (2019) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2019-0824 · Cited by 142
Disparities in Access and Quality of Obesity Care
Washington, T. B., Johnson, V. R., Kendrick, K., Ibrahim, A. A., Tu, L., Sun, K., & Stanford, F. C. (2023) · Gastroenterology Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.gtc.2023.02.003 · Cited by 141
Kris‐Etherton, P. M., Petersen, K. S., Velarde, G., Barnard, N. D., Miller, M., Ros, E., O'Keefe, J. H., Williams, K., Horn, L. V., Na, M., et al. (2020) · Journal of the American Heart Association · doi:10.1161/jaha.119.014433 · Cited by 132
Cooksey Stowers, K., Jiang, Q., Atoloye, A., Lucan, S., & Gans, K. (2020) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17197143 · Cited by 117
Bell, C. N., Kerr, J., & Young, J. L. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph16050861 · Cited by 115
Metadata
- Authors
- Cooksey-Stowers, K., Schwartz, M., & Brownell, K.
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2017-11-14
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1366
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2770887445
- Cited by
- 641
- References
- 49
- FWCI
- 28.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
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