Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University, 1505 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA.
Am J Prev Med. 2011 Mar;40(3):303-11. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2010.10.033.
Low dietary quality is a key contributor to obesity and related illnesses, and lower income is generally associated with worse dietary profiles. The unequal geographic distribution of healthy food resources could be a key contributor to income disparities in dietary profiles.
To explore the role that economic segregation can have in creating income differences in healthy eating and to explore policy levers that may be appropriate for countering income disparities in diet.
A simple agent-based model was used to identify segregation patterns that generate income disparities in diet. The capacity for household food preferences and relative pricing of healthy foods to overcome or exacerbate the differential was explored.
Absent other factors, income differentials in diet resulted from the segregation of high-income households and healthy food stores from low-income households and unhealthy food stores. When both income groups shared a preference for healthy foods, low-income diets improved but a disparity remained. Both favorable preferences and relatively cheap healthy foods were necessary to overcome the differential generated by segregation.
The model underscores the challenges of fostering favorable behavior change when people and resources are residentially segregated and behaviors are motivated or constrained by multiple factors. Simulation modeling can be a useful tool for proposing and testing policies or interventions that will ultimately be implemented in a complex system where the consequences of multidimensional interactions are difficult to predict.
低饮食质量是导致肥胖和相关疾病的一个关键因素，而较低的收入通常与较差的饮食结构有关。健康食品资源在地理上分布不均，可能是导致饮食结构收入差异的一个关键因素。
探讨经济隔离在造成健康饮食方面的收入差异中所起的作用，并探讨可能适合解决饮食方面收入差距的政策手段。
使用简单的基于代理的模型来确定产生饮食方面收入差异的隔离模式。探讨了家庭食物偏好的能力以及健康食品的相对价格在克服或加剧这种差异方面的作用。
在没有其他因素的情况下，饮食方面的收入差异是由于高收入家庭和健康食品商店与低收入家庭和不健康食品商店的隔离造成的。当两个收入群体都对健康食品有共同的偏好时，低收入家庭的饮食会有所改善，但差距仍然存在。有利的偏好和相对便宜的健康食品都是克服隔离产生的差异所必需的。
该模型强调了在人们和资源在居住上隔离，并且行为受到多种因素的驱动或限制的情况下，促进有利的行为改变所面临的挑战。模拟建模可以成为一个有用的工具，用于提出和测试政策或干预措施，这些政策或干预措施最终将在一个复杂的系统中实施，在这个系统中，多维互动的后果很难预测。
