This study on the effectiveness of opening a new grocery store to address food insecurity was published in Health Affairs by Cummins, Flint, and Mathews. The research question was “Does opening up a grocery store in a Philadelphia neighborhood classified as a food desert have an effect on ‘ body mass index (BMI), daily fruit and vegetable intake, and perceptions of food accessibility’ in the community?” This indicates the three data types needed: height and weight for BMI (in this case a report of an “act/event”); reported fruit and vegetable intake, and; shallow opinions of various aspects of food accessibility in the neighborhood. These were collected from samples of two neighborhoods with similar characteristics, one that was planned to receive a new store and one that was not as a control.  Each neighborhood had two survey samples taken: one several years before the new grocery store was added, and one six months after it was added. They also compared participants within the experimental group who adopted the new store as their main source of food versus those who did not. The three types of data collected describe different things, and take the forms of both ratio and ordinal data. I can’t quite follow how they went from the data they collected to the data shown in their results, which seems to be all in ratios that were in a form that could be compared. The results of this study show that in the experimental neighborhood perception of food accessibility improved, but the measurements of BMI and fruit and vegetable intake overall did not change. One significant reason for this was that most people in the neighborhood did not actually change their shopping habits with the addition of the store. Another reason for this could be that the follow-up data collection was only performed six months after the store was introduced, not giving enough time for a change to occur. Nonetheless, I think it is significant that people did not change their shopping habits, and this perhaps indicates a need for further measures to address food deserts, such as nutrition education, in addition to bringing grocery stores to places that don’t have them.

Reference: Steven Cummins, Ellen Flint and Stephen A. Matthew. (2014). New Neighborhood Grocery Store Increased Awareness Of Food Access But Did Not Alter Dietary Habits Or Obesity. Health Affairs. 33, no.2 (2014):28N3-291. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0512