title: Perceived influences on diet among urban, low-income African Americans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To understand perceived influences on consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fast foods for urban, low-income African Americans.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured interviews with 33 African American adults from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, using continuous, iterative,  thematic analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Influences on dietary behaviors that emerged included economic considerations; food characteristics; health concerns and health effects; participants' personal influences; social and cultural influences; neighborhood, home, and work environments; and broader  contextual influences. There were important differences by age group and gender.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Strategies to improve dietary patterns in urban, low-income, African-American communities might make use of overall and age- and gender-specific perspectives from within the community we report.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Social Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA. slucan@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Sean C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lucan
authors.forename: Frances K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Barg
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karasz
authors.forename: Christina S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Judith A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Long
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004032:Diet / Q000208:ethnology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D015143:Philadelphia; D011203:Poverty; D012924:Social Conditions; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult