The Effect of Supermarket Shortages and Fast Food Restaurant Growth on Diet Related Diseases in New York City
Our group hypothesized that the disappearance of fresh food purveyors along with the proliferation of fast food chains, such as supermarkets, was responsible for increased diabetes and obesity rates in lower-income neighborhoods of New York City. We examined the number of supermarkets in certain communities of varying income levels and the presence of fast food chains along with obesity rates and diabetes rates. We discovered that low-income areas have higher rates of diabetes and obesity however the prevalence of fast food restaurants and disappearance of supermarkets did not seem to be a factor. This negative hypothesis could be accounted for in a variety of ways. However, the results we found have their own conclusions; that supermarkets in lower-income areas offer food not as healthy as those offered in more affluent areas and possibly as a result of this, the obesity and diabetes rates are higher.
Supermarkets offer fresh and healthy food options and we discovered that this can greatly change the diet of a community. For example, in North Carolina, Black Americans’ fruit and vegetable intake increased 32% for each additional supermarket in the neighborhoods where they lived. In contrast, white Americans in similar neighborhoods only showed an 11% increase in fruit and vegetable consumption (BIHE 2002). From this study and others, we hypothesized that areas where fast food chains thrive and supermarkets are waning, the obesity rates and diabetes rates would be increased in comparison to areas where the factors were reversed, fast food chains were waning and supermarkets thrived. We began researching and compiling data regarding the amount of supermarkets and fast food restaurants in 15 community districts along with diabetes and obesity rates for those communities. What we discovered was interesting and a cause for concern, yet it did not prove our original hypothesis that the disappearance of supermarkets and growing fast food chains in low-income areas.
We found that the higher the density of supermarkets correlated to a greater chance of having a higher overweight percentage and also the greater number of fast food restaurants within the community district, the greater the chance there was of a high obesity and diabetes rate. There were come community districts that did not follow this trend; however, most exceptions can be explained. For example, the Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Two Bridges district had results that would point to a high overweight, obesity, and diabetes percentages; but, the results show it to have a slightly elevated rate of overweight inhabitants and a low rate of obesity along with a lower than normal rate of diabetes. This could be due to the prevalence of local supermarkets in Chinatown that nearby residents shop at daily and whose residents’ diets consist mostly of rice and other fresh ethnic foods that are conducive to low rates of obesity and diabetes. Another factor to consider in this case is that this community is not a lower-income area that our hypothesis expected to find a correlation. Our hypothesis was aimed at lower-income communities where Black and Hispanic New Yorkers reside. In that case, in areas such as Jamaica, South Jamaica, St. Albans, and the Rockaways; our results showed a correlation between the higher percentages of obesity and diabetes where there was a greater amount of supermarkets and fast food restaurants. This could be accounted for by examining the food offered at these supermarkets and we expect they would not be the same healthy items offered in more affluent supermarkets, such as Whole Foods or in greenmarkets.
Our research has proven that there is some correlation between obesity and diabetes rates in lower-income areas due to the presence of supermarkets and potentially fast food restaurants. Our original hypothesis, that supermarkets in these neighborhoods were disappearing, was false however; the healthy options they used to offer seem to have disappeared as competition has risen between supermarkets, fast food chains, delis, and pharmacies. Supermarkets can only compete with these cheaper alternatives by offering the same unhealthy food items they offer and hence, obesity and diabetes rates will continue to rise unless something is done to make healthy food more affordable.
