Society Food swamps in the US linked to increased risk of obesity and cancer

Maciamo

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I mentioned food swamps in another thread about American supermarkets. Here is an interesting article that explains the phenomenon.

New study at the Georgia Cancer Center sheds light on the danger of “food swamps”

"Food deserts have become a relatively common term referring to areas where access to affordable, nutritious food — such as fresh produce — is limited. Food swamps, however, are areas where the food options are largely unhealthy.

“Food deserts are where you live more than one mile from a grocery store in an urban area, or more than 10 miles in a rural area,” said Dr. Malcolm Bevel, assistant professor in the Cancer Prevention, Control and Population Health program at the GCC. “The only difference between a food desert and a food swamp is the type of food you have access to.”

While food deserts may be far from grocery stores, food swamps are all too close to stores with more proinflammatory, unhealthy food types.

“Fast food restaurants, convenience stores, liquor stores, things of that nature,” said Bevel.

His recently published study, “Association of Food Deserts and Food Swamps With Obesity-Related Cancer Mortality in the US,” is the result of research to quantify and analyze the nationwide impact of food environments to obesity and obesity-related cancers.

The study found an association between counties that scored highly on the food swamp index had high obesity-related cancer mortality rates over the last 10 years.

“The implications of food swamps became clear once we observed 77% higher odds of obesity-related cancer mortality for areas with higher concentration of unhealthy food options,” said Dr. Justin Moore, assistant professor at MCG and co-author of the study. “We know that from prior studies that there has been a growing incidence or rise of food swamps across the United States, and these rates have tended to mirror the trends we see in adults living with obesity.”
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Map illustrating the prevalence of food swamps throughout the U.S., according to a recent study conducted by epidemiologists Malcolm Bevel and Justin Moore.

"Bevel notes that the concerns the data brings to light go beyond obesity as an epidemic, but also 13 different types of cancer — including thyroid, liver, prostate, postmenopausal breast cancer, as well as gut inflammation — and their connection to economic and even racial disparities.

“Research and public health initiatives need to move away from blaming individuals for ‘not selecting healthy options’ and ‘not adhering to healthy lifestyle behaviors’ when people live in environments with a depletion of healthy food options and overabundance of unhealthy food choices,” said Moore. “This work supports future efforts that work towards sustainable approaches within communities to improve healthy food options that allow for the reduction of cancer risks.”
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Here is a map of food deserts from another article. Both food swamps and food deserts are most prevalent in the Southeast, the Bible belt.

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From what I read above, it seems food swamps have a higher correlation with obesity, or maybe the influence of food deserts are understudied compared to food swamps?
It would be interesting to find out how these food swamps came about? Maybe unhealthy food was and still is in higher demand in these areas.
It's a question of the egg or the chicken. What was first?
The same goes for the food deserts.
 
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