Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Sciensano [Scientific Institute of Public Health], J.Wytsmanstraat 14, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Research Group for Urban Development, University of Antwerp, Mutsaardstraat 31, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 25;19(21):13854. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192113854.
Food deserts and swamps have previously been mostly studied in Anglo-Saxon countries such as the USA and Great Britain. This research is one of the first studies to map food deserts and swamps in a mainland European, densely populated but heavily fragmented region such as Flanders. The evolution of food deserts and swamps between 2008 and 2020 was assessed. Special focus was given to areas where high numbers of elderly, young people and/or families with low income live. Food deserts were calculated based on supermarket access within 1000 m and bus stop availability, while food swamps were calculated using the Modified Food Environment Retail Index. The main cause behind the formation of food deserts in Flanders is its rapidly aging population. Food deserts with a higher number of older people increased from 2.5% to 3.1% of the residential area between 2008 and 2020, housing 2.2% and 2.8% of the population, respectively. Although the area that could become a food desert in the future due to these sociospatial and demographic evolutions is large, food deserts are currently a relatively small problem in Flanders in comparison to the widespread existence of food swamps. Unhealthy retailers outnumbered healthy retailers in 74% of residential areas in 2020, housing 88.2% of the population. These food swamps create an environment where unhealthy food choices predominate. Residential areas with a higher number of elderly people, young people and families with low incomes had healthier food environments than Flanders as a whole, because these areas are mostly found in dense urban centers where the ratio of healthy food retailers to all retailers is higher. This research showed that food deserts and swamps could be a growing problem in European regions with a high population density that experience the high pressures of competing land uses.
食品荒漠和食品沼泽先前主要在英美等盎格鲁-撒克逊国家进行研究。本研究是首次对佛兰德这样的人口稠密但高度碎片化的欧洲大陆国家进行食品荒漠和食品沼泽制图的研究之一。评估了 2008 年至 2020 年期间食品荒漠和食品沼泽的演变情况。特别关注老年人、年轻人和/或低收入家庭数量较多的地区。食品荒漠是根据 1000 米范围内的超市可达性和公共汽车站的可用性计算得出的，而食品沼泽是使用改良食品环境零售指数计算得出的。佛兰德形成食品荒漠的主要原因是人口迅速老龄化。2008 年至 2020 年间，人口老龄化程度较高的食品荒漠面积从居民区的 2.5%增加到 3.1%，分别居住着 2.2%和 2.8%的人口。尽管由于这些社会空间和人口统计演变，未来可能出现食品荒漠的区域很大，但与广泛存在的食品沼泽相比，目前食品荒漠在佛兰德相对来说是一个较小的问题。2020 年，74%的居民区的不健康零售商数量超过了健康零售商，居住着 88.2%的人口。这些食品沼泽创造了一个以不健康食品选择为主的环境。老年人、年轻人和低收入家庭较多的居民区的食品环境比佛兰德整体更健康，因为这些地区主要位于人口稠密的城市中心，那里健康食品零售商与所有零售商的比例更高。这项研究表明，在人口密度高、面临土地利用竞争压力大的欧洲地区，食品荒漠和食品沼泽可能成为一个日益严重的问题。
