Are neighbourhood food resources distributed inequitably by income and race in the USA? Epidemiological findings across the urban spectrum

ObjectiveMany recent policies focus on socioeconomic inequities in availability of healthy food stores and restaurants. Yet understanding of how socioeconomic inequities vary across neighbourhood racial composition and across the range from rural to urban settings is limited, largely due to lack of large, geographically and socio-demographically diverse study populations. Using a national sample, the authors examined differences in neighbourhood food resource availability according to neighbourhood-level poverty and racial/ethnic population in non-urban, low-density urban and high-density urban areas.DesignCross-sectional data from an observational cohort study representative of the US middle and high school-aged population in 1994 followed into young adulthood.ParticipantsUsing neighbourhood characteristics of participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Wave III, 2001–2002; n=13 995 young adults aged 18–28 years representing 7588 US block groups), the authors examined associations between neighbourhood poverty and race/ethnicity with neighbourhood food resource availability in urbanicity-stratified multivariable linear regression.Primary and secondary outcome measuresNeighbourhood availability of grocery/supermarkets, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants (measured as number of outlets per 100 km roadway).ResultsNeighbourhood race and income disparities were most pronounced in low-density urban areas, where high-poverty/high-minority areas had lower availability of grocery/supermarkets (β coefficient (β)=–1.91, 95% CI –2.73 to –1.09) and convenience stores (β=–2.38, 95% CI –3.62 to –1.14) and greater availability of fast-food restaurants (β=4.87, 95% CI 2.26 to 7.48) than low-poverty/low-minority areas. However, in high-density urban areas, high-poverty/low-minority neighbourhoods had comparatively greater availability of grocery/supermarkets (β=8.05, 95% CI 2.52 to 13.57), convenience stores (β=2.89, 95% CI 0.64 to 5.14) and fast-food restaurants (β=4.03, 95% CI 1.97 to 6.09), relative to low-poverty/low-minority areas.ConclusionsIn addition to targeting disproportionate fast-food availability in disadvantaged dense urban areas, our findings suggest that policies should also target disparities in grocery/supermarket and fast-food restaurant availability in low-density areas.Article summaryArticle focusUsing national data, we examined whether neighbourhood food resource availability exhibits joint race and socioeconomic inequities across levels of urbanicity.Key messagesSocio-demographic inequities in neighbourhood food resource availability were most pronounced in low-density urban (largely suburban) areas.In high-density urban areas, higher neighbourhood poverty was associated with greater availability of all food resources.Whereas policy has focused on dense urban settings, less urban areas might also benefit from policies addressing food access.Strengths and limitations of this studyWhile business records provide comparable data across the USA, these data may contain error and do not indicate availability of specific foods.National coverage enabled examination of the joint role of neighbourhood race and socioeconomic status across urban strata within a single study