Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

From Food Desert to Food Oasis: The Potential Influence of Food Retailers on Childhood Obesity Rates

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Few studies have examined the influence of the food environment on obesity rates among very young, low-income consumers. This research contributes to this growing literature by examining the relationship between modifications to the retail environment and obesity rates for low-income, preschool-aged children. Based on data combined from various secondary sources, this study finds that changes in the retail environment are significantly related to obesity rates. More specifically, the authors find a positive relationship between the number of convenience stores in the retail environment and obesity rates among low-income, preschool-aged children. Results also show that the percent change in grocery stores and supercenters and club stores in the retail environment is negatively related to the obesity rates of low-income, preschool-aged children [i.e., as grocery stores and supercenters/club stores increase (decrease), obesity decreases (increases)].Further, the percent change in supercenters and club stores mediates the positive relationship between participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and obesity rates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Covariates included socioeconomic variables such as race/ethnicity and household income as well as adult obesity levels.

  2. A complete description of the Food Atlas and its sources may be found at http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-environment-atlas/data-access-and-documentation-downloads.aspx.

  3. We also performed a supplemental analysis using percent change in the number of convenience stores as a mediator. Results indicate that this variable does not mediate the relationship between SNAP benefits and obesity rates. The estimate of the indirect effect is 0.000 and the confidence interval includes a zero value (LLCI = −0.0004, ULCI = 0.0018) which indicates a nonsignificant indirect effect.

  4. We also performed supplementary analysis to determine if the indirect effect of the percentage change in grocery stores and the indirect effect of the percentage change in supercenters/club stores were significantly different. The estimate of the difference of these two indirect effects is −0.0009. Since the confidence interval (LLCI = −0.0029, ULCI = 0.0010) includes a zero, we can conclude that the strength of the effects are not significantly different.

References

  • Alwitt, L. F., & Donley, T. D. (1997). Retail stores in poor urban neighborhoods. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 31(1), 139–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • An, R., & Sturm, R. (2012). School and residential neighborhood food environment and diet among California youth. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 42(2), 129–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Argandoña, A. (1998). The stakeholder theory and the common good. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(9-10), 1093–1102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aßländer, M. (2011). Corporate social responsibility as subsidiary co-responsibility: A macroeconomic perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 99(1), 115–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaulac, J., Kristjansson, E., & Cummins, S. (2009). A systematic review of food deserts, 1966–2007. Preventing Chronic Disease, 6(3), 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodor, J. N., Rice, J. C., Farley, T. A., Swalm, C. M., & Rose, D. (2010). The association between obesity and urban food environments. Journal of Urban Health, 87(5), 771–781.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Broda, C., Leibtag, E., & Weinstein, D. E. (2009). The role of prices in measuring the poor’s living standards. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 23(2), 77–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (2012). SNAP to health: A fresh approach to improving nutrition in the supplemental nutrition assistance program. Accessed March 20, 2014 from http://www.thepresidency.org/storage/documents/CSPC_SNAP_Report.pdf.

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014). Adolescent and school health. Accessed March 3, 2014 from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm.

  • Cummins, S., Petticrew, M., Sparks, L., & Findlay, A. (2005). Large scale food retail interventions and diet. British Medical Journal, 330(7493), 683–684.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, S., Flint, E., & Matthews, S. A. (2014). New neighborhood grocery store increased awareness of food access but did not alter dietary habits or obesity. Health Affairs, 33(2), 283–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Onis, M., Blössner, M., & Borghi, E. (2010). Global prevalence and trends of overweight and obesity among preschool children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 92(5), 1257–1264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dubowitz, T., Ghosh-Dastidar, M. B., Steiner, E., Escarce, J. J., & Collins, R. L. (2013). Are our actions aligned with our evidence? The skinny on changing the landscape of obesity. Obesity, 21(3), 419–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farley, T. A., Rice, J., Bodor, J. N., Cohen, D. A., Bluthenthal, R. N., & Rose, D. (2009). Measuring the food environment: shelf space of fruits, vegetables, and snack foods in stores. Journal of Urban Health, 86(5), 672–682.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fellowes, M. (2006). The high price of being poor. Los Angeles Times (July 23) A, 14.

  • Fisher, J. O., & Birch, L. L. (1995). Fat preferences and fat consumption of 3–5 year-old children are related to parental adiposity. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 95(7), 759–764.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fryar, C. D., Carroll, M. D., & Ogden, C. L. (2012). Prevalence of overweight, obesity, and extreme obesity among adults: United States, trends 1960–1962 through 2009–2010. National Center for Health Statistics. Accessed June 19, 2014 from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity_adult_09_10/obesity_adult_09_10.htm.

  • Goldberg, M. E., & Gunasti, K. (2007). Creating an environment in which youths are encouraged to eat a healthier diet. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 26(2), 162–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goran, M. I., Ball, G. D., & Cruz, M. L. (2003). Obesity and risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in children and adolescents. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 88(4), 1417–1427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo, S. S., Wu, W., Chumlea, W. C., & Roche, A. F. (2002). Predicting overweight and obesity in adulthood from body mass index values in childhood and adolescence. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 76(3), 653–658.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation and conditional process analyses: A regression-based approach. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedley, A. A., Ogden, C. L., Johnson, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Curtin, L. R., & Flegal, K. M. (2004). Prevalence of overweight and obesity among US children, adolescents, and adults, 1999–2002. Journal of the American Medical Association, 291(23), 2847–2850.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, R. P. (2002). Stalking the poverty consumer: A retrospective examination of modern ethical dilemmas. Journal of Business Ethics, 37(2), 209–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huffman, F. G., Kanikireddy, S., & Patel, M. (2010). Parenthood—a contributing factor to childhood obesity. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7(7), 2800–2810.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Institute of Medicine. (2005). Preventing childhood obesity: Health in the balance. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klesges, R. C., Stein, R. J., Eck, L. H., Isbell, T. R., & Klesges, L. M. (1991). Parental influence on food selection in young children and its relationships to childhood obesity. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 53(4), 859–864.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laraia, B. A., Siega-Riz, A. M., Kaufman, J. S., & Jones, S. J. (2004). Proximity of supermarkets is positively associated with diet quality index for pregnancy. Preventive Medicine, 39(5), 869–875.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larson, N. I., Story, M. T., & Nelson, M. C. (2009). Neighborhood environments: disparities in access to healthy foods in the US. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 36(1), 74–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, H. (2012). The role of local food availability in explaining obesity risk among young school-aged children. Social Science and Medicine, 74(8), 1193–1203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leung, C. W., Willett, W. C., & Ding, E. L. (2012). Low-income supplemental nutrition assistance program participation is related to adiposity and metabolic risk factors. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 95(1), 17–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman, L. S. (2006). Evolutionary and anthropological perspectives on optimal foraging in obesogenic environments. Appetite, 47(1), 3–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur, R. H., & Pianka, E. R. (1966). On optimal use of a patchy environment. American Naturalist, 100, 603–609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mancino, L. (2010). How food away from home affects children’s diet quality. Washington: United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, No. 104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marder, W., & Chang, S. (2006). Childhood obesity: costs, treatment patterns, disparities in care, and prevalent medical conditions. New York: Thomson Medstat Research Brief.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monsivais, P., & Drewnowski, A. (2007). The rising cost of low-energy-density foods. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 107(12), 2071–2076.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morland, K., Diez Roux, A. V., & Wing, S. (2006). Supermarkets, other food stores, and obesity: The atherosclerosis risk in communities study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 30(4), 333–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2014). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011–2012. Journal of the American Medical Association, 311(8), 806–814.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olshansky, S. J., Passaro, D. J., Hershow, R. C., Layden, J., Carnes, B. A., Brody, J., et al. (2005). A potential decline in life expectancy in the United States in the 21st century. New England Journal of Medicine, 352(11), 1138–1145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Packaged Facts (2014). In-store retailer experiences cater to consumer cravings for fresh, personalized food options. Accessed October 13, 2014 from http://www.packagedfacts.com/article/2014-01/store-retailer-experiences-cater-consumer-cravings-fresh-personalized-food-options.

  • Pinel, J. P., Assanand, S., & Lehman, D. R. (2000). Hunger, eating, and ill health. American Psychologist, 55(10), 1105–1116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, L. M., Auld, M. C., Chaloupka, F. J., O’Malley, P. M., & Johnston, L. D. (2007). Associations between access to food stores and adolescent body mass index. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 33(4), S301–S307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puhl, R. M., & Heuer, C. A. (2009). The stigma of obesity: A review and update. Obesity, 17(5), 941–964.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rank, M. R., & Hirschl, T. A. (2009). Estimating the risk of food stamp use and impoverishment during childhood. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 163(11), 994–999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratchford, B. T. (1982). Cost-benefit models for explaining consumer choice and information seeking behavior. Management Science, 28(2), 197–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roehling, M. V. (2002). Weight discrimination in the American workplace: ethical issues and analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 40(2), 177–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, D., & Richards, R. (2004). Food store access and household fruit and vegetable use among participants in the US Food Stamp Program. Public Health Nutrition, 7(8), 1081–1088.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sims, R. R., & Felton, E. L, Jr. (2006). Designing and delivering business ethics teaching and learning. Journal of Business Ethics, 63(3), 297–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, G. K., Siahpush, M., & Kogan, M. D. (2010a). Rising social inequalities in US childhood obesity, 2003–2007. Annals of Epidemiology, 20(1), 40–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, G. K., Kogan, M. D., & Van Dyck, P. C. (2010b). Changes in state-specific childhood obesity and overweight prevalence in the United States from 2003 to 2007. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 164(7), 598–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, A. C., & Skelton, J. A. (2014). Prevalence and trends in obesity and severe obesity among children in the United States, 1999–2012. American Journal of Preventive Medicine Pediatrics, 168(6), 561–566.

    Google Scholar 

  • Srinivasan, R., Sridhar, S., Narayanan, S., & Sihi, D. (2013). Effects of opening and closing stores on chain retailer performance. Journal of Retailing, 89(2), 126–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talukdar, D. (2008). Cost of being poor: Retail price and consumer price search differences across inner-city and suburban neighborhoods. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(3), 457–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treuhaft, S., & Karpyn, A. (2010). The grocery gap: Who has access to healthy food and why it matters. Oakland and Philadelphia: Policy Link.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trivedi, M. (2011). Regional and categorical patterns in consumer behavior: Revealing trends. Journal of Retailing, 87(1), 18–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Truong, K. D., & Sturm, R. (2005). Weight gain trends across sociodemographic groups in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 95(9), 1602–1606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Agriculture (2014a). Food deserts. Agricultural Marketing Service. Accessed April 1, 2014 from http://apps.ams.usda.gov/fooddeserts/foodDeserts.aspx.

  • U.S. Department of Agriculture (2014b). Supplemental nutrition assistance program, food and nutrition service. Accessed April 1, 2014 from http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility.

  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2011). Benefit redemption patterns in the supplemental nutrition assistance program. Food and Nutrition Service. Accessed April 2, 2014 from http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/ARRASpending Patterns_Summary.pdf.

  • Van den Bos, R., & De Ridder, D. (2006). Evolved to satisfy our immediate needs: Self-control and the rewarding properties of food. Appetite, 47(1), 24–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ver Ploeg, M., & Ralston, K. (2008). Food stamps and obesity: What do we know?. Washington, DC: United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitaker, R. C., Wright, J. A., Pepe, M. S., Seidel, K. D., & Dietz, W. H. (1997). Predicting obesity in young adulthood from childhood and parental obesity. New England Journal of Medicine, 337(13), 869–873.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woo, B. J., Huang, C. L., Epperson, J. E., & Cude, B. (2001). Effect of a new Wal-Mart supercenter on local retail food prices. Journal of Food Distribution Research, 32(1), 173–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (2012). Global Health Observatory. Accessed March 1, 2014 from http://www.who.int/gho/ncd/risk_factors/overweight/en/.

  • Zhao, X., Lynch, J. G., & Chen, Q. (2010). Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and truths about mediation analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(2), 197–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The research reported in this article, and its preparation, were supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant No. 2011-68001-30014 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, Business Building 302, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Elizabeth Howlett, Cassandra Davis & Scot Burton

Authors
  1. Elizabeth Howlett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Cassandra Davis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Scot Burton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth Howlett.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Howlett, E., Davis, C. & Burton, S. From Food Desert to Food Oasis: The Potential Influence of Food Retailers on Childhood Obesity Rates. J Bus Ethics 139, 215–224 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2605-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2605-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation