• Hispanic families are less likely than non-Hispanic White families to live in neighborhoods where healthy food is available and sold at affordable prices.

• For Latinos living in neighborhoods where affordable, healthy food is scare, families may have difficulty obtaining transportation to obtain such foods.

Why is this important? Mainstream grocery stores are more likely to carry a wide range of food and fresh produce than smaller stores.  NCLR reports that Hispanic neighborhoods are about 1/3 less likely to have a chain supermarket.

For obtaining healthy foods, reliable transportation is important.  Low-income families relying on public transportation may be limited in the quantity and quality of foods they can purchase, especially fresh produce.

The factsheet also summarizes the connection between access to healthy food and health outcomes. Specifically, access to chain supermarkets has been correlated with decreased body mass index.  In one study, children living in areas with lower costs for fruits and vegetables gained less weight than their counterparts living in high cost areas. This correlation was most exaggerated in Hispanic (and Asian) communities.

To download the factsheet, click here.


In Savannah, food balance was determined as the appropriate measure to assess food offerings. These scores show a relative measure of how easy or difficult it is to reach mainstream food over fringe food. The guiding principal is that consumers will shop most regularly at the stores nearest to where they live. The map below shows detailed findings conducted block-by-block in and surrounding areas of Savannah. The red areas show the most of out of balance areas.

For more information on the research conducted in Savannah, including neighborhood specific maps, click here.

The work, which was sponsored by Main Street Birmingham, found:

-Over 88,000 people live on blocks were mainstream grocers are distant (e.g. food deserts) or where both grocers are distant and unhealthy food is readily available (e.g. food imbalance) – covering over 43 square miles and including 23,000 children, and

-Living in these areas impacts both the length and quality of life.

To see an executive summary of the research findings, click here.  For more information on Main Street Birmingham and their work to combat food deserts, check out The Urban Food Project.

The updated position follows:

It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that systematic and sustained action is needed to achieve food and nutrition security for all in the United States. To eliminate food insecurity, interventions are needed, including adequate funding for and increased utilization of food and nutrition assistance programs, inclusion of food and nutrition education in such programs, and innovative programs to promote and support individual and household economic self-sufficiency.

The full position paper can be found in the September issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.