A three-year investigation recently completed by MIT Collaborative Initiatives (MIT-CI) and the Urban Design Lab at the Earth Institute, Columbia University (UDL) used a design- and systems-based approach to detect drivers of and potential solutions for the current crises in obesity and diet-related disease faced by the United States.

There is a correlation across the nation between areas with limited access to healthy food and areas of obesity and chronic disease prevalence in both rural and urban populations, according to the researchers.

Specifically, data examined from New York City and Chicago showed that neighborhoods with limited access to healthy food options (defined for this project as fresh fruits and vegetables and minimally processed foods) saw significantly higher obesity rates than areas just a few miles away that enjoy greater access to healthy food products. Additionally, the rural counties where the bulk of our agricultural commodities are produced are often areas with limited access to healthy foods, and they see similar obesity rates.

Low cost and long shelf life make highly processed foods particularly attractive to families with limited food budgets, according to the researchers.

Solutions to this problem will involve changes to food production techniques, the development of a region-based processing and distribution infrastructure, and new models for healthy food retail.

A restructuring of the food supply infrastructure from its current processing and transport emphasis—in which food is often transported vast distances for processing, and then redelivered back to where it started—to a more regional approach is critical in order to improve food delivery efficiency. Improved efficiency is the first step toward improved affordability, which the study indicates will lead to better access, and eventually, better long-term health.

“Most global food crises have been infrastructural, involving breakdowns in regional distribution systems. Bigger systems are clearly no longer the better systems for the long term,” Professor Michael Conard of the Urban Design Lab said in a news release. “Strengthening our regional systems can be a key contributor to many of our most challenging environmental and health problems.”

Fast food popular with middle class: study

A separate study suggests dining on fast food becomes more common as consumers’ earnings rise to middle income levels, challenging the link between poverty, fast food and obesity.

Researchers at UC Davis analyzed survey data from nearly 5,000 Americans who provided information about their food consumption and household incomes from 1994 to 1996.

They found that fast-food restaurant visits rose along with annual household income up to $60,000. As income increased beyond that level, fast-food visits decreased and dining at full-service restaurants increased. While household incomes have changed since the mid-1990s, the researchers said they believed the patterns in the study would hold true today.

"There is a correlation between obesity and lower income, but it cannot be solely attributed to restaurant choice," said J. Paul Leigh, study author and professor at UC Davis. "Fast-food dining is most popular among the middle class, who are less likely to be obese."

Quick service restaurant companies attract the middle class by locating restaurants right off of freeways in middle income areas and offering products that have mass appeal, the study author said.

"Low prices, convenience and free toys target the middle class, especially budget-conscious, hurried parents, very well," said Leigh, who plans to study the effects of food pricing on choices.

"Pricing is critical to low-income families, and over the past 30 years the costs of less healthy options have dropped compared to healthier fare," Leigh said.

The UC Davis study is published in the journal Population Health Management.

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