Food Environments

Abstract

The United States has the heaviest population in the world, with the majority of adults and almost one-third of children now classified as overweight or obese. Individual-level interventions aimed at restricting calories (and increasing activity levels) have failed to slow the obesity epidemic, leading researchers and practitioners to search for explanations and solutions in the food environment. Food environments—comprising food production, distribution, and marketing—vary dramatically within and across cities and from urban to rural areas. The toll of obesity is most evident in disadvantaged neighborhoods, with African American and Hispanic populations disproportionately affected. Disadvantaged neighborhoods tend to lack supermarkets and fresh food but have ample access to foods that are calorie-dense but have little redeeming nutritional value. Various policy solutions are being launched on the local, regional, and national levels, with the promise of improved health as a rallying point for improvements in environments that include school food programs, changes in food marketing and nutrition labeling, and increased numbers of supermarkets and farmers’ markets. The health effects of these policy changes are often difficult to measure, and benefits may become evident only after extensive and sustained environmental changes. Recent data suggest that the steep rise in obesity witnessed over the past thirty years may finally be slowing, perhaps in part because of changes to the food environment.