Mui Yeeli, Lee Bruce Y, Adam Atif, Kharmats Anna Y, Budd Nadine, Nau Claudia, Gittelsohn Joel
Global Obesity Prevention Center (GOPC) at Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015 Nov 30;12(12):15058-74. doi: 10.3390/ijerph121214965.
Products in corner stores may be affected by the network of suppliers from which storeowners procure food and beverages. To date, this supplier network has not been well characterized.
Using network analysis, we examined the connections between corner stores (n = 24) in food deserts of Baltimore City (MD, USA) and their food/beverage suppliers (n = 42), to determine how different store and supplier characteristics correlated.
Food and beverage suppliers fell into two categories: Those providing primarily healthy foods/beverages (n = 15) in the healthy supplier network (HSN) and those providing primarily unhealthy food/beverages (n = 41) in the unhealthy supplier network (UHSN). Corner store connections to suppliers in the UHSN were nearly two times greater (t = 5.23, p < 0.001), and key suppliers in the UHSN core were more diverse, compared to the HSN. The UHSN was significantly more cohesive and densely connected, with corner stores sharing a greater number of the same unhealthy suppliers, compared to HSN, which was less cohesive and sparsely connected (t = 5.82; p < 0.001). Compared to African Americans, Asian and Hispanic corner storeowners had on average -1.53 (p < 0.001) fewer connections to suppliers in the HSN (p < 0.001).
Our findings indicate clear differences between corner stores' HSN and UHSN. Addressing ethnic/cultural differences of storeowners may also be important to consider.
街角商店的商品可能会受到店主采购食品和饮料的供应商网络的影响。迄今为止，这个供应商网络尚未得到很好的描述。
我们使用网络分析方法，研究了美国马里兰州巴尔的摩市食品匮乏地区的街角商店（n = 24）与其食品/饮料供应商（n = 42）之间的联系，以确定不同的商店和供应商特征之间的相关性。
食品和饮料供应商分为两类：一类是在健康供应商网络（HSN）中主要提供健康食品/饮料的供应商（n = 15），另一类是在不健康供应商网络（UHSN）中主要提供不健康食品/饮料的供应商（n = 41）。与健康供应商网络相比，街角商店与不健康供应商网络中的供应商的联系几乎多了两倍（t = 5.23，p < 0.001），并且不健康供应商网络核心中的关键供应商更加多样化。与健康供应商网络相比，不健康供应商网络的凝聚力明显更强，连接更密集，街角商店共享更多相同的不健康供应商，而健康供应商网络的凝聚力较弱，连接稀疏（t = 5.82；p < 0.001）。与非裔美国人相比，亚洲和西班牙裔街角商店店主与健康供应商网络中供应商的平均联系少1.53次（p < 0.001）。
我们的研究结果表明街角商店的健康供应商网络和不健康供应商网络之间存在明显差异。考虑店主的种族/文化差异也可能很重要。
