Marissa Sheldon, University of North Carolina, School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Prev Chronic Dis. 2010 Mar;7(2):A43. Epub 2010 Feb 15.
Many Americans have diets that do not meet the dietary guidelines set by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Additionally, low-income people have the highest rates of obesity and have difficulty accessing the necessary foods for maintaining a healthful diet.
In December 2007 and January 2008, 21 retail food stores in Central Falls, Rhode Island, where residents were predominantly low-income Hispanics, were evaluated for the availability and costs of foods that fulfill the USDA's Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) guidelines.
Each surveyed store was evaluated for variety and weekly cost of 3 different types of market baskets (2 families and an elder). Each store's proximity to public transportation was estimated by using geographic information systems mapping.
Only 2 stores in Central Falls and the discount supermarket in an adjacent city, Pawtucket, carried enough variety of foods to fill the TFP basket. At the 2 stores, costs were up to 40% higher, and at the discount store, costs were up to 18% cheaper, than the national average. Each of the stores was accessible by public transportation.
Meeting the USDA TFP guidelines is difficult in this low-income, predominantly Hispanic city. Although the components of the TFP are available, high prices may make a nutritious diet unaffordable.
许多美国人的饮食不符合美国农业部 (USDA) 制定的饮食指南。此外，低收入人群的肥胖率最高，而且难以获得维持健康饮食所需的食物。
2007 年 12 月和 2008 年 1 月，对罗得岛州中心瀑布市的 21 家零售食品店进行了评估，这些食品店的居民主要是低收入的西班牙裔，评估内容是这些商店提供符合美国农业部节俭食品计划 (TFP) 指南的食物的种类和价格。
节俭食品计划是为了满足低收入人群的营养需求而设计的，其食物种类包括肉类、蔬菜、水果、谷物和奶制品等。
每个被调查的商店都根据 3 种不同类型的购物篮（2 个家庭和 1 个老年人）的种类和每周成本进行评估。使用地理信息系统制图来估计每个商店与公共交通的距离。
只有中心瀑布的 2 家商店和相邻城市波塔基特的折扣超市提供了足够种类的食物来填满 TFP 篮子。在这 2 家商店，成本比全国平均水平高出 40%，而在折扣店，成本比全国平均水平低 18%。每家商店都可以通过公共交通工具到达。
在这个低收入、以西班牙裔为主的城市，满足美国农业部 TFP 指南是困难的。尽管 TFP 的组成部分是可用的，但高价格可能使营养饮食变得负担不起。
