Scientists Say Food Swamps Are A Real Thing And Are Terrible For People Who Live In Them
Food swamps, areas with abundant unhealthy food options, can be as dangerous as food deserts.
Food swamps—areas awash in convenience stores, fast food chains, and the cheap, unhealthy food they provide—are a health risk to people who live in them. As ScienceAlert reports, since the term was coined in the 1990s, there has been much concern over food deserts—areas that lack adequate options for healthy foods within walking distance. These phenomena are certainly a major health concern that disproportionately affects lower-income people and communities of color.
But many of us have not heard of food swamps, which can also be unhealthy places to live. A food swamp is defined as a place with more convenience stores and fast-food options than grocery stores and farmers’ markets with no supermarkets within a radius of one mile. According to researchers, these areas tend to exist in southern areas of the United States that have the highest rates of chronic diseases, including lung, prostate, colorectal. breast, and other cancers.
This food swamp data was collected by Malcolm Seth Bevel and a team of researchers at at Georgia’s Augusta University who study public health concerns. They gathered a decade of statistics on national health by region and compared their findings with the US Department of Agriculture Food Environment Atlas gathered around the same time, including data regarding local food service options by region. This information was then compared with data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that recorded a variety of health measures, including deaths related to cancer.
Their study of food deserts and food swamps covered 96.7 percent of the United States, comprising 3,038 counties. Their research found that deaths from obesity-related cancers—13 types covering 40 percent of cancers in the US—had a higher percentage of Black and elderly, and low-income families. They also found this group to be more prone to obesity and diabetes.
People who lived in food swamps, the study found, had a 30 percent higher likelihood of dying from cancer related to obesity. This was even after adjusting for poverty rates, age, and ethnic background, meaning the lack of availability of healthy food options clearly contributes to obesity, cancer, and death. While people have long seen diet as a controllable cancer risk factor, it is becoming increasingly apparent that people aren’t solely responsible for their eating habits when they lack healthy options or are awash in unhealthy ones.
Regarding the study’s findings on food swamps and food deserts, Karriem Watson and Angela Odoms-Young write in their commentary on the research that there is growing evidence suggesting that a person’s “zip code and neighborhood” might have just as much impact on health outcomes as their genetics. While many factors certainly influence cancer and obesity in addition to nutrition, Watson and Odoms-Young write that the study is a clear call for further study of how food inequities impact health and for efforts toward systemic change to address those inequities.
But getting rid of food deserts and food swamps, the study’s authors say, is not just about retail development but about neighborhood infrastructure and community planning. Neighborhoods that are more walkable and provide easier access to resources are just as important as the resources themselves.
