Worcester County Lacks Proper Healthy Food Options, Study Says
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor
Nearly 40-percent of stores in Worcester County lack the proper healthy food options for people hoping to diet, creating a variety of struggles that makes dieting in the area less effective, according to a recently released study.
“Access to Healthy Food Stores Modifies Effect of a Dietary Intervention” – conducted by UMass Medical School and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health – is a study that looks to understand the relationship between supportive neighborhood environments and individual efforts to combat obesity.
“Community health programs should be evidence based, but many studies have showed conflicting associations between the distance to grocery stores and lower or higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes,” said principal investigator Wenjun Li, PhD, associate professor of medicine and director of the Health Statistics and Geography Lab in the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine at UMMS and senior author of the study. “Our study is different. It looks at whether neighborhood environment becomes a limiting factor when a person wants to improve their diet. If you live far away from a grocery store, and you are trying to change your diet, will that affect you or not? To our knowledge, this is the first study to look at that.”
The study was conducted in Worcester County with 240 obese adults with metabolic syndrome who participated in a randomized clinical trial comparing two dietary interventions, the American Heart Association Dietary Guidelines or an exclusive focus on increasing fiber intake.
Improve the Environment, Improve Healthy Living
Results from this first-of-its-kind study show that not living close to healthy foods can deter even the most motivated dieters from improving their diet, which suggests that easy access to healthy food is just as important as personal motivation or any other factor regarding dieting.
Overall, the study showed that living closer to healthier options produced healthier eating habits among dieters. According to the DPH, this is precisely why programs like Mass in Motion – a statewide program devoted to promoting opportunities for healthy eating and active living – exist for residents of the Commonwealth.
“The findings of this study support a cornerstone theory of the Mass in Motion program that supportive environments can facilitate behavior change and ultimately improve health,” said co-author Thomas Land, PhD, director of the Department of Public Health’s Office of Data Management and Outcomes Assessment. “DPH is committed to Mass in Motion and the promise of improved community health that it delivers.”
One Factor, But an Important One
With this study as a stepping stone, Li and the DPH hope that further investigations into this concept will be explored so that public policy can be effected positively to address the problem with obesity in Massachusetts.
Li hopes that this study and following study can change public policy for the better; for example, communities with limited access to healthy food stores could provide public land and tax incentives to attract business owners.
“Changing the environment alone cannot produce results. However, efforts to try to change a person will be very limited without improving the environment,” Li concluded. “This is why both aspects should be pursued at the same time with coordinated efforts.”