What measure is taken to promote the farmer’s market?

M: Food deserts, or communities where grocery stores are few and far between, may be linked to unhealthy eating and obesity. But would supplying neighborhoods with healthy options actually stop unhealthy eating and slim down the populace? Science news writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel examined the research designed to answer this question. I will talk with her about projects in several major cities in the U.S.
W: So this is an article that is about improving access to healthy foods among mostly underprivileged neighborhoods that currently lack that access. They may not have grocery stores that offer fresh produce or other healthy options like low-fat dairy and so on. And it’s about trying to change that, in the hopes of changing eating habits and eventually changing obesity rate.
M: Now what are some incentives being implemented to promote visits to food markets already?
W: There have been a number of things that people are trying.(l)So in a couple cities, in New York and Philadelphia right now, residents who spend $5 worth of food stamps at a farmer’s market get an additional $2 that they can spend there on fruits and vegetables. There are a number of researchers, foundations, local officials, who are trying to offer more produce, in particular, and other healthy foods in small markets, in supermarkets, at areas around the country, both urban and rural areas.
M: So what are some of the efforts to get people to buy healthier foods? Are there any simple, cheap strategies that stores can use on a more local level to encourage this behavior?
W: Yeah. So there are lots of things that different people are trying to get people to really change their eating habits, which is at the key of all of this. One is to really think about the community where the store sits, and to focus efforts on that community. So there may be certain foods that people in that community are more likely to cook with, depending on their background and, you know, what they’re accustomed to. So stores might focus on, you know, certain produce over other produce that will draw in customers.
M: And...
W;(2)And they might also do some very simple things, like changing product displays. We don’t think about it so much, but, for example, if you’re walking down a cereal aisle, your eyes may be drawn to the boxes that are at eye level, not the ones that are nearer your feet. And so if you flip those around—maybe the Cheerios are your feet, you move them up to eye level people might be more likely to see those, or to see healthier cereals, as opposed to ones that are considered less healthy. You can swap around where the milk might go and put the skim milk in a more visible location, or one that you run into before you hit the whole milk.
M: Yeah, all seem like good ideas. In your article, you also talked about some obstacles to research on the effectiveness of food markets. Could you talk a little bit more about those?
W: Absolutely. And there are a lot of things about this research that make it difficult to do. So one is just the types of stores we’re dealing with.(3)If we’re talking about these small corner stores in different communities, many of them do not have electronic cash registers. They don’t provide receipts. You want to know whether customers are buying the healthy food that’s being introduced. And that can be tough to determine, at least by just looking at sort of an output of sales like you might be able to do with a larger supermarket. That’s one obstacle.
M: That’s too bad.
W: And another obstacle is whether people are actually eating what they buy.(4)We assume that if people, you know, are buying, say, spinach, then they’re going to eat it. But we’ve also all had, you know, spinach go bad in our refrigerator and thrown it out. So we don’t really know whether people are eating what they buy.
M: So what about pricing? Isn’t it more expensive to eat healthier foods?
W: A lot of people think that, and it certainly can be a lot more expensive. It really depends what you eat. It does not have to be more expensive.
M: Well, that’s good to know. Now looking at this study more overall, there’s a key assumption being made in this type of study that may not necessarily be true about the relationship between access to healthier foods and weight. So can you talk about that?
W: Sure.(5)So I think when people talk about increasing access to healthy foods as a way to make people healthier, basically, to improve overall health, there’s this assumption that if you eat more healthy food, that means you’re going to eat less unhealthy food. So the healthy food is replacing the unhealthy food. And that makes sense, but we really don’t know that it’s true.
M: Alright. So is there cause for optimism in the future? What is left to be examined about food markets?
W: Yeah. I think that in some ways, we’re actually near the beginning of all of this, because people have only in the last few years been trying to really look systematically at what strategies make a difference. And I think we are certainly seeing hints that we can change eating habits and that people will eat more healthy foods. A lot of people do want to be healthy.
M: Great. Thank you, Jennifer.
W; Thank you. Thanks for having me.