People living in lower-income neighborhoods and in areas without local food stores eat more snacks and sweets than those in higher-income areas and in neighborhoods with many food stores, a new study shows. The findings are published in The Journal of Nutrition . Researchers at the University of Michigan and University of Alabama-Birmingham looked at overall consumption of snacks and sweets , and four subcategories: bakery sweets; candy and desserts; savory snacks and crackers; and nutrition bars and low-fat snacks and sweets.
Findings include: Ian-Marshall Lang, a researcher at U-M's School of Kinesiology and first author of the study, said his team didn't examine "the why" behind the findings, but hypothesized that people in neighborhoods without food stores might buy more shelf-stable foods like snacks and sweets, or buy food at less traditional food stores like dollar stores, which carry fewer healthy options. "Our neighborhood income findings may be explained by previous research showing lower-income areas are unjustly exposed to greater targeted marketing for snacks and sweets, higher prices for healthy food , fewer healthy food options in stores, and greater stress," he said. The findings are important for several reasons, Lang said.
"A lot of research on the residential food environment and dietary intake focuses on fruit and vegetable consumption and overall diet quality, leaving far less known about the intake of snacks and sweets," he said. "Additionally, U.S.
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