Research
Mixed
Stores in low-income or high-minority neighborhoods often have less availability of healthy food and higher prices for healthy items compared to stores in higher-income neighborhoods, although these findings are inconsistent across studies.
Be aware that food environments are not equal. Low-income and minority neighborhoods often have less healthy food available and higher prices for healthy items. Addressing these disparities requires targeted interventions, not just general availability improvements.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Six studies reported stores in low income neighborhoods or high minority neighborhoods had less availability of healthy food. While, four studies found there was no difference in availability between neighborhoods.
Why this rating
The review highlights mixed results, with some studies finding disparities and others finding none, reducing the certainty of this claim.
Source
Measures of the Consumer Food Store Environment: A Systematic Review of the Evidence 2000–2011
Alison Gustafson et al. · Journal of Community Health · 2011
DOI 10.1007/s10900-011-9524-x
systematic_reviewCited 232×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- The availability of healthy food items (fruits, vegetables, overall quality) within consumer food stores is not consistently associated with lower BMI or improved dietary patterns, and proximity to healthy stores does not necessarily lead to better health outcomes.Moderate
- Lower prices of fruits and vegetables are associated with lower gains in BMI, and higher availability of fruits and vegetables is inversely related to self-reported BMI.Moderate
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