The Impact of Food Deserts in Low-Income Communities

It’s 2021 and in America you can’t be farther away then 115 miles from the nearest

McDonalds, in some communities there are more liquor stores than grocery stores and soda is

cheaper than bottled water. These are only a few of the examples as to why America is a leading

country in obesity. With one out of every three Americans being obese, it’s easy to wonder why

this type of epidemic is normalized. If we start from the beginning and look at what we’re

feeding children it’s a lot of processed food, mostly because schools have to meet a budget of

under $1.30 per child so the majority of schools hand the task to food companies whose main

goals aren’t a child's dietary values but rather their profits as a company. In these lunches, there

is a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables and in many school districts, school is the only access

these children have for food. With the lack of access to fresh foods and the lack of knowledge,

obesity is the silent killer in America. This issue lies beyond just eating healthy, many people

just simply cannot whether it be the lack of resources or knowledge and many of the reasons are

rooted in our society historically.

Food is like a drug. When your brain experiences the waves of euphoria that is associated

with eating certain foods, most likely sugary and processed, that is the reaction that companies

want to produce. They want this reaction so that you can keep buying more products until your

brain is dependent on the serotonin it provides. Companies hire scientists and chemical engineers

to produce these foods that create the maximum amount of euphoria so that the consumer keeps

coming back and this seems to have worked as one out of every three Americans adult is obese.

Although many of the food that we eat is through our own choices, it is the lack of knowledge

that leads to these choices. It’s easy to blame people for their weight gain because those

individuals did make those choices, but oftentimes these people either come from households
that lack the knowledge on how to eat better and come from communities where they may not

have access to a grocery store. In America, the food pyramid is pushed at a very young age. It is

plastered in classrooms and pushed because school lunches used to be subsidized by the dairy

industry thus the big push for every child to grab milk with every meal. Currently, the south has

the highest obesity rates, primarily affecting those in the black and brown community. Not only

do schools fail to provide the proper information, but even if there was a want to change, those

same communities lack grocery stores. In the scholarly article, “Revitalizing America’s Food

Deserts.” by Stephanie Nussbaum, she states “Nearly 23.5 million people live in a food desert in

the United States, and approximately 50 percent of them are low income. The lowest income

Americans spend over 35 percent of their budget on food, compared to only 8.2 percent spent by

the richest one-fifth of Americans.” When you’re worrying about making rent, paying your bills,

and sending your kids to school, the quality of food you might be consuming is probably the last

worry on your mind. Although this may seem the cheaper alternative, it also has its

consequences as these lower-income communities also experience higher levels of health

problems as a result of their diets.

Heart disease. The silent killer of America, primarily in low-income black communities.

It’s the number one reason for death in America and the easiest ways to prevent it are through

eating healthy and exercising. But it’s not as easy as you think since the majority of American’s

are working class parents with other worries. Going through the drive through is easy and cheap

after a long day of work. Buying your kids lunchables is reliable and easier than making a

healthy lunch that they might not even eat. Although these seem like small and harmless actions,

decisions that parents make can heavily impact their children as those who experience obesity in

their childhood have a 50 percent chance of being obese in their adulthood. In the K-12 system,
one hour of physical education is required by the board of education for obvious reasons as

physical activity has been linked to overall improvement of mental health. But do these children

reap the benefits of this exercise if they are served pizza and microwaved food during lunch? In

the article “Income, Race and its Association with Obesogenic Behaviors of U.S. Children and

Adolescents'' by Ethan Hunt, he takes data such as screen time, race, age, socioeconomic class,

and adiposity from these children. What he found was that “-high income children and

adolescents had significantly less adiposity when compared to their low-income peers.

Low-income children and adolescents had also engaged in significantly more screen-time than

their middle and high-income counterparts.” How is it that America is considered one of the

most developed countries, yet 23.5 million people live in a food desert and about 40-46 percent

of black and latio community is diagnosed with obesity? This issue goes beyond a person

choosing not to eat healthy, this kind of oppression is systemic and on purpose. In lower-income

communities, there are liquor stores on every corner but not a grocery store within a ten minute

drive and because it is easier to accept the way that things are rather than push for change,

nothing ever gets done in these communities. With the implications of grocery stores in these

communities, they will be able to access more whole foods and lower the rate of obesity which

will in turn lower the rate of other diseases such as heart disease and high blood pressure.

With more and more people getting vaccinated for COVID-19, there is a promise of life

turning back to normal but it seems as if this is the new normal. A life of needing to get

constantly vaccinated and continuing to wear a mask in an everyday setting. 2020 was a year of

chaos but it showed the lack of stability in our government, the events of this year only showed

how bad life truly is in America. Not only were there kids who had to go to fast food joints in

order to get wifi for their zoom classes, but also that governments across multiple cities made
sure there were tents for outdoor dining before there was housing for the homeless. In the

academic journal, “A Call for a National Agenda for a Healthy, Equitable, and Sustainable Food

System.” Freuenberg states, “ Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, food insecurity in US

households with children more than tripled, for the already unacceptable 9.3% to 29.5%. Almost

60% of the calories in the US diet come from ultra processed foods that are strongly associated

with the rise in diet-related chronic diseases.” News stories about starving children started to

become the new normal in 2020 and statistics about just how many kids rely on school lunches

for their only daily meal started to sky rocket. No child should have to go hungry but this issue is

just beyond drinking a glass of milk and eating a piece of fruit. The conversation about whether

children should be getting fed has become a political conversation and as budget cuts continue, it

is expecting that the quality of food that children will be receiving will only become worse.

As a child, you are bombarded with the food pyramid and being told by the lunch

workers that you need to grab a fruit and milk every time you pass through. Now, schools are

just trying to reach the state dietary guidelines while still making a profit. If the country wants to

tackle the obesity epidemic, it starts within communities. Food deserts need to be fixed and

children need to be taught a healthy way to approach food, then we can start to see change

within.
 Works Cited

Hunt, E. T., Brazendale, K., Dunn, C., Boutté, A. K., Liu, J., Hardin, J., Beets, M. W., &

Weaver, R. G. (2019). Income, Race and its Association with Obesogenic Behaviors of U.S.

Children and Adolescents, NHANES 2003-2006. ​Journal of Community Health,​ ​44(​ 3), 507–518.

https://doi-org.ezp.pasadena.edu/10.1007/s10900-018-00613-6

Nussbaum, S. (2020). Revitalizing America’s Food Deserts. ​Harvard Kennedy School Review,​

20​, 108–112.

Freudenberg, N., & Nestle, M. (2020). A Call for a National Agenda for a Healthy, Equitable,

and Sustainable Food System. ​American Journal of Public Health,​ ​110(​ 11), 1671–1673.

https://doi-org.ezp.pasadena.edu/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305926