Barriers to buying healthy foods for people with diabetes: evidence of environmental disparities

Abstract

Objectives: A community coalition compared the availability and cost of diabetes-healthy foods in a racial/ethnic minority neighborhood in East Harlem, with those in the adjacent, largely White and affluent Upper East Side in New York City.

Methods: We documented which of 173 East Harlem and 152 Upper East Side grocery stores stocked 5 recommended foods.

Results: Overall, 18% of East Harlem stores stocked recommended foods, compared with 58% of stores in the Upper East Side (P <.0001). Only 9% of East Harlem bodegas (neighborhood stores) carried all items (vs 48% of Upper East Side bodegas), though East Harlem had more bodegas. East Harlem residents were more likely than Upper East Side residents (50% vs 24%) to have stores on their block that did not stock recommended foods and less likely (26% vs 30%) to have stores on their block that stocked recommended foods.

Conclusions: A greater effort needs to be made to make available stores that carry diabetes-healthy foods.