Fresh Vegetables in Impoverished American Neighborhoods

Forty years from now the street scenes of small-town USA might appear a lot healthier: fewer people carrying an obese body around. It all started with the children, is what Americans will say then. At the end of last month research showed that in 2012 obesity among children aged two to five was a lot less common than in 2004.

A 43 percent decrease in the number of too-fat preschoolers still means that eight percent are too fat, and that is quite a lot. And we will have to wait and see if the improvement is maintained over time as the kids become older. Within the same period, obesity among teenagers aged 12 to 19 still increased: At the moment, one in five teenagers is severely obese.

But still … maybe it helps that the American government has been telling its citizens for years that things have to change. In the past five years Michelle Obama has appeared at the forefront. In line with tradition, the first lady chose a politically safe topic to do good. The campaign “Let’s Move” specifically targeted corpulence among children. That is not just about exercise but also about food.

To have children from especially impoverished families improve their eating habits, a lot of attention was given to “food deserts”: A neighborhood is considered a food desert if within reasonable distance there is no store with affordable and responsible food, which obviously includes a well-sorted produce section. Otherwise it would be difficult for people who, for example, do not own a car to eat healthily.

In this area, things are slowly improving. Big grocery retailers have expanded their produce sections, and those that open supermarkets with a fresh-food counter in an impoverished neighborhood receive subsidies. Yet this is only a part of the solution. A recent study in Philadelphia indicated that the eating habits of people in the neighborhood did not improve straight away. Their shopping and buying habits are deep-seated; diets will remain the same without special action and courses.