Barriers to buying healthy foods for people with diabetes: evidence of environmental disparities.
OBJECTIVE
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.
Horowitz
Carol R
CR
Department of Health Policy, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA. carol.horowitz@mountsinai.org
Colson
Kathryn A
KA
Hebert
Paul L
PL
Lancaster
Kristie
K
D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000379:methods; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003927:Diet, Diabetic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005518:Food Preferences; D058870:Food, Organic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data