GLOBAL NUTRITION
It wasn’t just the United States that put food deserts on the map. In 2002, researchers described what happened to residents in a deprived area in Leeds, United Kingdom, after the opening of a major grocery store. Nearly half of people they surveyed switched to the new store as their main food source, and their diets improved.
The researchers estimated that the best measure of a healthy diet was the amount of vegetables and fruits consumed, a measure that also works when evaluating diets from around the world. Geographic location and culture have an enormous impact on what people eat—for example, Americans rarely eat rice for breakfast, although it is common in many Asian countries—but all share the same essential features.
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Specifically, most healthy diet plans focus on eating more plant foods, including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans. Meals should include lean proteins from a variety of sources, and healthy fats, which are present in foods such as avocados, olive oil, nuts, and some types of fish. Healthy eaters should minimize their intake of unhealthy fats (lard, butter, fatty meats), sugar, and salt; eat appropriate portion sizes; and stay physically active.
Obesity has become such a global problem that even the World Health Organization (WHO), the agency of the United Nations concerned with global health, has issued recommendations to countries about preparing national policies and dietary guidelines. Along with the features common to all dietary guidelines, the WHO suggests that food policies should encourage people to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, and reduce the intake of saturated fats and trans-fatty acids (also known as trans fats; see Chapter 6).
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Countries don’t just rely on pyramids or plates to provide advice—in France, dietary guidelines are illustrated as stairs. Foods you can eat frequently are found at the top of the stairs, those that should only be consumed in small quantities are found at the bottom, and those to avoid are hidden in a magnifying glass. (INFOGRAPHIC 2.10)
Question 2.9
Name 3 ways each of the international diet and lifestyle recommendations differ from those provided by MyPlate.
The international diet and lifestyle recommendations differ from MyPlate in the following ways. The French Diet Steps emphasize daily exercise, sets limits for fats, sugar, and salt, and includes a recommendation for water intake. The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid includes physical activity at the base of its pyramid stressing its importance, followed by fruits, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil. Wine is allowed in moderation. The Japanese Spinning Top spells out specific food group servings for each day. Exercise, water, and tea are the largest portion of the spinning top, with grain dishes and vegetables representing largest number of servings per day.
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Back in the United States, Mari Gallagher’s identification of food deserts helped put this issue on the map, but not everyone is convinced that food deserts are a significant cause of poor nutrition and obesity. To collect nationwide data, Helen Lee, PhD, a researcher at MDRC, a nonprofit social policy research organization, launched a study that compared the location of food stores with residents’ income and the health of their children. In 2012, she found that poor neighborhoods did, in fact, have more fast-food and convenience stores per square mile than wealthier neighborhoods, but also more grocery stores than wealthier neighborhoods, including those that sold meat and fresh produce. Some of these might be ethnic stores that cater to certain groups, but they carried a variety of healthy options. And a sample of kids from a range of different neighborhoods followed from kindergarten to fifth grade showed that those with better access to nutritious foods in their neighborhoods were no less likely to become obese.
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Other research has produced mixed evidence regarding the relationship between what kids actually eat and the types of foods available to them.
The trouble with much of food desert research, explains Lee, is that it simply correlates food deserts to income and obesity, but doesn’t show that lack of access to nutritious foods is the cause of residents’ unhealthy eating habits. “Grocery stores have a lot of healthy foods, but they have a lot of bad ones, too. You can spend your whole budget in the chips and processed food aisles, easily.” People choose foods based on many factors other than access, such as budget.
Gallagher also acknowledges that simply giving people access to fresh food doesn’t mean they’ll eat it—but it’s a start. “We have stressed throughout the course of our work that simply plopping down a grocery store does not mean that these problems are instantly solved,” says Gallagher. “But if we have access, we also have the power to choose an apple over a candy bar, at least a little more often.”