Unhealthy Food Too Easily Available to East Harlem School Children
Newswise — Too many sources of unhealthy foods, and not enough access to wholesome things to eat, are located near elemntary schools in the New York inner-city neighborhood of East Harlem, according to the findings of a study by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The study authors believe this situation may influence the diets of school children in such predominantly-minority neighborhoods. The study titled "Food Availability in an Inner-City Community: What s Near Our Elementary Schools?" will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies on May 14-17 in Washington, DC.
The research team, headed by Maida Galvezs, MD, Associate Professor of Community and Preventive Medicine and of Pediatrics, found that there are stores selling unhealthy foods within about 400 feet (125 meters) of 99 percent of elementary schools in East Harlem. And stores selling unhealthy foods near the schools outnumbered stores selling healthy things to eat by nearly six-to-one.
Dr. Galvez and her colleagues conducted a comprehensive walking survey of food stores in East Harlem (Zip Codes 10029 and 10035), classifying them as supermarkets, grocery stores, bodegas, restaurants, fast food stores or speciality stores, such as fruit markets, ice cream shops and bakeries. They then used data from the New York State Department of Agriculture and a special computer program to create a map of the neighborhood's "food environment" depicting the healthfulness of foods available in each of the establishments. The map shows not only that there is a source of unhealthy food close to nearly every elementary school, but nearly six out of ten schools (57%) have three or more sources of unhealthy foods near by.
"East Harlem elementary schools have many unhealthy food stores in close proximity. In combating the rising epidemic of childhood overweight, there is a need to address community level changes in food availability of the urban environment," said Dr. Galvez. "Mount Sinai School of Medicine through initiatives like the Growing up Healthy in East Harlem project is trying to work with the community to help address these problems."
Growing up Healthy in East Harlem, a community based participatory research project at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, examined environmental determinants of childhood obesity, including access and availability of foods in the inner city, predominantly minority community of EH. The project was to access the density of healthy and non-healthy food resources in EH and their proximity to elementary schools. Results showed not only unhealthy foods to be abundant in EH but also showed overwhelming disparities in the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables.
