Solomon John Robbins
Health and Nutrition:
Eliminating the health inequality among Americans.
Solomon
Language Arts 12
HEAL Academy, Cleveland High School
January 8, 2007
Project Outline
How can eliminate the health disparity due to nutrition among poor and wealthy Americans?
Introduction
Causes
1. Availability of Healthy foods
2. Accessibility of Grocery Stores
3. Low Income and Welfare
4. Cultural Cuisines such as Soul Food
Effects
1. Heart Disease rates higher among low income areas
2. Obesity and diabetes direct effects of eating unhealthy foods
3. Hospitals visitations and higher insurance rates as indirect effects
4. The effects of nutrition in schools and learning
Solutions
1. Economic changes will improve financial conditions among low income people
2. Focusing on agribusiness strategies will help close the nutrition gap
3. New pro-health programs will instruct people about
4. Smart Shopping a personal benefit to low income on eliminating the disparity
Conclusion
Citation Page
Appendixes
1. Graphs
2. Charts
3. Footnotes: Current Events
The right nourishment is something every human being needs in order to live well. The way we get our nourishment is by consuming healthy foods and beverages. Food is becoming more expensive and therefore difficult to afford, especially for the people in poverty line. Bread was about $0.10 in the 1950’s but now bread is $3.49 for a loaf of whole grain. The gap between the wealthy and the poor is increasing (DeNavas-Walt 4). The many people who barely live above the line also struggle to make a living. These factors play a huge role in the increasing disparity of health.
So what is a healthy meal? A healthy nutritious meal will include low-fat meats, complex carbohydrates as in vegetables, whole grains and fruits. However people with low incomes turn to packaged and fast foods for meals loaded with chemicals and preservatives (Baker & Barnidge 1171). The outcome is higher hospital visits and lower life expectancies. Due to this factor and more, there is a disparity between low income and wealthier populations in nutrition. Aspects such as accessibility, income and education are key points to explore in looking at these disparities (Schlosser 3).
In terms of accessibility, inner-city neighborhoods seem to have no lack for fast food restaurants and convenience stores, while the grocery stores are not as common. But in poor remote areas, it is even worse. For instance in Chicago, Illinois, supermarkets are scarce in such areas, so people end up buying costlier and low nutritious food (MCIC Grocery Store Report 1). Additionally, quality grocery stores that carry organic or a variety of fresh food are not everywhere in the nation. As a result, the increasing rate of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in these neighborhoods indicate problems. Dr. Paul Crawford, a kidney specialist, said eating healthy is a real problem because residents in these areas are not in locations where they have ready access to fruits and vegetables (MCIC “Grocery Store Report” 1).
When one combines the fact that most residents in urban neighborhoods are low income, gas prices are very high, and the closest grocery stores are probably miles away with clusters of fast food restaurants nearby, the probability of people developing health problems is high. Some southern cities are infamous for their general lack of health. The Dallas\Ft. Worth Area (DWF) is the largest metropolitan area in the South, not only by population, but also by area and weight. DFW experienced major expansion over the last several years due the influx of people migrating to the region. This cosmopolitan area also has a large concentration of African Americans and Hispanics (SOURCE).
In order to understand how daily dynamics might contribute to this unhealthy pattern, there is the example of one young woman in Ward 2 in Dallas, Texas. She worked everyday, had children and made a low income wage. Her daily activities hindered her from going to the grocery store which is more than a mile away, so she relied on what was closest and most convenient. This ended up being the closest fast food restaurant. A typical daily dinner might be fried chicken, coleslaw, and mashed potatoes from Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits, which was just a block away. She is about one of 12,000 people who live in the proximity of one grocery store. But in this case this woman is actually fortunate because Wards 7 and 8 in Dallas only have one grocery store per 70,000. Because of this lack, the few stores there are, experience a congestion of people and probably frequents sell outs of food (US Census: Small Area Income & Poverty Estimates).
Even in the Northwest, where Seattle and Portland are the major urban centers and they are considered some of the healthiest cities in the United States, availability issues are present. The region encompassing Washington, Oregon and Idaho is the birthplace of major grocery chain conglomerates including Albertsons, Fred Meyers (Kroger West), and Safeway; it is the largest producer of raspberries, potatoes, some grapes, apples, and pears among others. Thus it seems that the access to healthy foods should hardly be a problem (The Pride of Washington 2).
In Southeast Seattle, however, there is less than “.8% density” of grocery stores serving an area of about 120,000. This area finds convenience stores and fast food joints lined up and down the two main thoroughfares of Rainer Avenue and MLK way. It is in this area that the rate of diabetes mortality is “80% - 97% “ (The Physical Food Environment in King County 10). The South Park neighborhood also has no grocery stores and in fact sits in the middle of the contaminated Duwamish Industrial Area. It is no coincidence that breast cancer rates are also high in these areas (Marti 25).
The relationship of nutrition and income can also be seen by flipping the channels through the television and seeing infomercials about feeding the needy, mostly in third world countries as in Kenya, Pakistan and India. Malnourishment due to the lack of proper nutrition and money in third world countries have caused diseases to thrive (SOURCE). This is relationship is also true in low income areas. Even though the average person in the United States has a higher income than most people in the world, there are areas in which people are at rock bottom. Consequently, these people get food, but not nutrition and health (DeNavas-Walt 4; Schlosser 3).
Going back to the early 1900s patterns show how minorities have been financially oppressed. Food during that time was at a reasonable price and hardly any fast food restaurants and packaged foods were yet available. Surprisingly, many health patterns that are seen today were also different. But since the late 1950s, when fast food chains expanded rapidly, health inequalities started forming among the poor and the wealthy (SOURCE). During the Great Depression, the government declared war on poverty and the Food Stamp Program was designed to provide a nutritional safety net for low income households while boosting a demand for domestic agricultural products like corn, soy, wheat, etc. Today, the Nation's largest food assistance program, with monthly expenditures of about 24 million people at a cost of $27 billion in 2004 plays a vital role in stabilizing the incomes of the poor and in promoting food consumption but not nutrition, but why are low income people still have bad health? (USDA Welfare Report 1)
Improved resources for buying food could be used to purchase more expensive foods that were previously out of reach such as organic and natural foods. Studies show that people who purchase higher priced foods that are more healthful (USDA Welfare Report 1). Given this, the food stamp program could greatly contribute to improved health and a healthier weight by providing access to these healthier options. Studies on food stamp use and its effect on eating behaviors and nutrient intake are not conclusive, but a USDA study stated: “Food stamps do increase the availability of food nutrients” and recipients of food stamps “consumed more meat, added sugars, and total fats, but did not consume more fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy products.” This is the same factor that has affected low-income households in other regions of the country. It is already clear from other studies that not receiving the best nutrition possible makes people more susceptible to health problems --especially children who don’t do the grocery shopping.
Other factors in history that contributed to problems of nutrition and health and how Americans changed their diets include economic shift, migration, culture and even inventions. Culture can affect a wide spectrum of health benefits and tradeoffs. For instance, soul and some Hispanic cuisines use traditional foods passed on from one generation to the next. Soul food is a major component of African American culture and is virtually eaten by everyone in America. Although the cuisine is quite delicious, the health of a person might be in question. Back in the seventeenth century, black slaves in America were given the remaining and unwanted parts of food from their masters like pig feet, ham hocks, chitterlings and other undesirable parts of an animal. Blacks added butter, spices, and salts to enhance the taste of the food and this continued through the centuries becoming a part of the culture. Poor minorities as a group have a long tradition of unhealthy eating. Foods like pizza, packaged lunches, chips, pop, etc. are popular items and readily available at any convenience store (Pennsylvania Gazette 11). However, the additives contained in these foods have played a role in raising the blood pressure and susceptibility of poor minorities. Today ingredients used in cultural foods such as soul food remain cheap and accessible. Thus the combination of long cultural tradition and poverty together with the increasing price of fresh natural food makes it hard to improve dishes (Net Wellness 1).
Another cultural food that has high health risks is Mexican food. There are about 30 million Hispanics living in the United States and over 300 million in the world. The cuisine of poorer Hispanic populations is very similar to that of soul food. Coincidently, the ingredients of Mexican cuisines are also very cheap and has also been commercialized and sold across the world in fast food restaurants like Taco Bell and Azteca. Consequently these cultural cuisines are also major contributors to diabetes, heart disease, and obesity (SOURCE).
Low income African Americans are 29 percent more likely to die than non-Hispanic whites from Trans fat. Shortening, deep-fried and commercially-baked items, salad dressing, and cookies are some of the foods frequently eaten and used by lower income ethnic groups but these foods are also infamous for extremely high contents of trans fat and cholesterol. Some foods printed before January 1, 2006, the date of when the Congressional law of trans fat went to effect, don’t have the trans fat label but might include partially hydrogenated or has margarine at the top of its ingredients list as a major ingredient (Christopher 3).
Coronary heart disease is also more severe in low income African American populations along with low income Mexican Americans, American Indians, native Hawaiians and some Asian Americans, than in Caucasians. Coronary heart disease is also heredity high in these populations as well. Some factors include higher rates of obesity and diabetes, which is already shown to be an effect in poor nutrition. Being over weight well above the BMI line is common among low income minorities. It is also this group that has higher percentage rate of being in the hospital and healthcare system and mortality rates are also high (American Heart Association 1). Therefore with worse health, more hospital visits and rising health insurance rates the disparities between the ‘haves and the have nots’ continues (AHA Scientific Position 5). Finally, cultural food is second nature to people. It is difficult to control their age, gender and color. Likewise it is hard to control family heritage and culture. For that reason, it is very important to supplement or substitute ethnic cuisines with proper foods to control any other risk factors (SOURCE).
Around 71.3 million people in America have cardiovascular disease or disorders. It is the number 1 cause of death and disability in the United States. Coronary heart disease caused 20% of the deaths in the United States in 2003. The risk factors for the disease include cigarette smoking, abnormal blood lipid levels, hypertension, diabetes, abdominal obesity, a lack of physical activity, low daily fruit and vegetable consumption, alcohol over consumption, and psychosocial index all of which are high in low income and minority areas and populations. In most conditions heart problems are detected too late where the conditions is advanced, having progressed for years. There is therefore increased emphasis on preventing atherosclerosis, the hardening of the arteries. Changing the risk factors including healthy eating, exercise and avoidance of smoking will keep the disease from developing. Moreover changing public and governmental health and nutrition policies are also key, especially to the children (American Heart Association 13).
In the public school system there is another great contributor to the health disparity, school meals. Ninety-three percent of all children attended schools in which the National School Lunch Program was offered. Fifty-four percent of all children usually ate school lunch 5 days per week. It is clear to see where an inequality can form at an early are between students (US Department of Agriculture 35). The Trumansburg School District of New York was one of the first school districts to offer organic and natural foods to their students. Compared to last year the food is now tastier, more nutritious, and fresh. Before improvements to the school cuisine began, a typical school menu will include food commodities unwanted by restaurants and other major food services. According to the US Department of Agriculture, these include unwanted parts of a pig and tasteless apples. But that’s not the only reason lunches were not nutritious. Many school districts included vending machines inside the school where students were able to buy junk food. A small number of food districts also hired fast food companies to operate the food operations in schools like Subway, Pizza Hut, and McDonalds. Ironically, school lunch reform is not a topic of interest for the Bush administration which does focus on eligibility requirements for students who currently qualify for free or reduced lunches at school (USDA Nutrition News 1). One school in New York comprised “two soft pretzels and an apple - and that it was considered a complete and healthy meal according to government nutritional standards.” To work more for nutrition, some school districts have hired food service providers like Marriott, who offers natural and organic foods for students (Sodexho USA).
Shopping at local markets, fruit stands, and local farms are cheaper than at conglomerate farms or national supermarkets. The benefits of shopping in local venues are long lasting. For example, a person of low income might not have enough money in their budget to buy organic foods from supermarkets but can go to the fruit stand down the street and buy three times as much for less thus benefiting the consumer. The fruit stand also benefits the local economy which will probably lower the cost of food. Consumers expressed the desire for following the alternative food system, but the price and accessibility of national supermarkets carrying local and organic food threatens to erode the wider social and community benefits achieved by direct marketing initiatives (Seyfang 1).
One New York agency tried to solve a problem after establishing that only 33% of bodegas there sold reduced-fat milk, on the other hand 9 out of 10 supermarkets in the neighborhoods did. More than 80 percent of the 373 food businesses analyzed in the two neighborhoods were bodegas, also known as convenience stores. The Health and Mental Hygiene Department began milk programs in three areas with similar food problems: central Brooklyn, the South Bronx and Harlem where some of the city's highest obesity rates are. Also, produce was found in 6 percent of the bodegas in the study, because of low popularity in vegetables and high cost. According to the health officials, it is difficult to change eating habits such as cultural cuisines, however, starting with promoting good habits and nutritious alternatives are going to contribute to eliminating this health disparity (Marc Santora 21).
Another plus for low-income access is that Wal-Mart is anticipating expanding its organic food market, which will allow many low-income Americans to buy organic foods. In order to keep up with demands from the world’s largest retailer more local organic farms will need to be established. Because organic farming is not in demand, the price of these foods has been greater than conventional foods. One thing a larger demand for organic food will create is a coop system in the local economy competing against national supermarkets and food businesses. It’s the major supermarkets that most affect the price of organic foods, but with the support of larger food retailers, this can change (Warner 2).
The disparity of health, access, income and nutrition will not be easy to eliminate. Overall, it is a variety of dynamics that create the difficulties and challenges that exist today. Though promoting awareness of nutrition, access, institutional support and a low cost of healthy foods, disparities can be lessened. It will take time and money to do this. Moreover some states such as New York have banned trans fat in all commodities coming one step closer to good health. Some communities and farmers might form new business models to reap good benefits for everyone as a whole changing the food and agricultural business as we know it. With government, institutional and public support to research the options and create accessibility, and with food research to make the old fashion shopping list a healthy one, our society can be guaranteed to save low income people money and most of all sustain a healthy diet and life for all Americans (Leon 112).
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