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Food Deserts are communities with little or no access to affordable healthy food options. Usually the deserts are low-income urban areas, where there are no supermarkets or grocery stores providing fresh produce, whole grains and other healthful options, within a reasonable distance. It is specifically defined in the Farm Bill of 2008 as “area in the United States with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominantly lower income neighborhoods and communities” (Title VI, Sec. 7527). The problem of access is made even more difficult since many residents of food deserts have limited access to transportation. They also often lack appropriate kitchen equipment to prepare uncooked produce if they had it as well as a knowledge of how to cook nutritious meals.
As a consequence the residents of these areas subsist mainly off of the convenient highly processed junk food. This diet results in many health problems including but not limited to: diabetes, heart disease, increased risk of cancer and obesity.
| Jennifer, Schlueter, and Eleni Papapleonardos. Columbus Food Deserts. Local Matters. N.p., 11 June 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. |
