3 ms·

Surely such a misanthropic shifting of blame to the poor themselves is well supported by research?

by digging 3y ago

bongodongobob 3y ago
Who is blaming the poor? They are too poor to drink water? That makes no sense.
- paulryanrogers 3y ago
  Blaming food choices is often blaming the poor, ignoring that nutritious foods tend to be more expensive. Even pure water can be pricey if you live in an area with degraded lead pipes.
  - bongodongobob 3y ago
    That's almost nowhere. Drinking soda instead of water has nothing to do with poverty.
  - anigbrowl 3y ago
    I specifically wrote 'when it would be equally convenient and affordable to buy something good'. I've spent a lot of life in poverty; if anything, it made me more rigorous about not eating trash. I took some cooking/nutrition classes in high school, but I'm not expert on it by any means; I have just never liked processed/sugary foods other than in small quantities or rare occasions like a party. I'm expressing skepticism about the assumption that food deserts are such a big problem because I've always looked for and found ways to get decent food. The specific example I had in mind with my original comment was from a place I used to live where I would see a guy who bought microwave lunch and a giant cup of soda at a 7-11 every day, even though there was a small grocery store with some fresh produce, a good selection of packaged foods, and large hand-made tasty sandwiches at the same price as the guy's 7-11 lunch literally across the street on the opposite corner.
rufus_foreman 3y ago
"Improved food access through establishment of a full-service food retailer, by itself, does not show strong evidence towards enhancing health-related outcomes over short durations." -- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28566095/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28566095/ "Initiatives to build supermarkets in low-income areas with relatively poor access to large food retailers (“food deserts”) have been implemented at all levels of government, although evaluative studies have not found these projects to improve diet or weight status for shoppers" -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4899338/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4899338/ "Living in a food desert census tract was not significantly associated with BMI" -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5615612/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5615612/ "Using a prospective controlled quasi-experimental design we evaluate the impact on Body Mass Index, fruit and vegetable intake and perceptions of food access, of increasing neighborhood supermarket provision in one community in Philadelphia. This increase in provision was one part of the wider public-private Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative. The intervention moderately increased perceptions of food access, but did not lead to changes in fruit and vegetable intake or BMI." -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4201352/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4201352/ "We found no evidence that the absolute or relative accessibility of supermarkets, fast food restaurants, or mass merchandisers were associated with individual BMI change" -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5895451/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5895451/

Surely such a misanthropic shifting of blame to the poor themselves is well supported by research?

bongodongobob 3y ago

Who is blaming the poor? They are too poor to drink water? That makes no sense.

paulryanrogers 3y ago
Blaming food choices is often blaming the poor, ignoring that nutritious foods tend to be more expensive. Even pure water can be pricey if you live in an area with degraded lead pipes.
- bongodongobob 3y ago
  That's almost nowhere. Drinking soda instead of water has nothing to do with poverty.
- anigbrowl 3y ago
  I specifically wrote 'when it would be equally convenient and affordable to buy something good'. I've spent a lot of life in poverty; if anything, it made me more rigorous about not eating trash. I took some cooking/nutrition classes in high school, but I'm not expert on it by any means; I have just never liked processed/sugary foods other than in small quantities or rare occasions like a party. I'm expressing skepticism about the assumption that food deserts are such a big problem because I've always looked for and found ways to get decent food. The specific example I had in mind with my original comment was from a place I used to live where I would see a guy who bought microwave lunch and a giant cup of soda at a 7-11 every day, even though there was a small grocery store with some fresh produce, a good selection of packaged foods, and large hand-made tasty sandwiches at the same price as the guy's 7-11 lunch literally across the street on the opposite corner.

rufus_foreman 3y ago

"Improved food access through establishment of a full-service food retailer, by itself, does not show strong evidence towards enhancing health-related outcomes over short durations." -- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28566095/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28566095/ "Initiatives to build supermarkets in low-income areas with relatively poor access to large food retailers (“food deserts”) have been implemented at all levels of government, although evaluative studies have not found these projects to improve diet or weight status for shoppers" -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4899338/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4899338/ "Living in a food desert census tract was not significantly associated with BMI" -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5615612/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5615612/ "Using a prospective controlled quasi-experimental design we evaluate the impact on Body Mass Index, fruit and vegetable intake and perceptions of food access, of increasing neighborhood supermarket provision in one community in Philadelphia. This increase in provision was one part of the wider public-private Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative. The intervention moderately increased perceptions of food access, but did not lead to changes in fruit and vegetable intake or BMI." -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4201352/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4201352/ "We found no evidence that the absolute or relative accessibility of supermarkets, fast food restaurants, or mass merchandisers were associated with individual BMI change" -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5895451/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5895451/