title: Baltimore City Stores Increased The Availability Of Healthy Food After WIC Policy Change.
abstract: As part of a 2009 revision to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, the Department of Agriculture required WIC-authorized stores to stock additional varieties of healthy food. The long-term effects of this policy on access to healthy food are unknown. Using surveys conducted in 118 Baltimore City, Maryland, food stores in 2006 and 2012, we examined associations of the change in healthy food availability with store type, neighborhood demographics, and the 2009 WIC policy change. Overall, healthy food availability improved significantly between 2006 and 2012, with the greatest increases in corner stores and in census tracts with more than 60 percent black residents. On an 11-point scale measuring availability of fruit (3 points), vegetables (4 points), bread (2 points), and milk (2 points), the WIC policy change was associated with a 0.72-point increase in WIC-relevant healthy food availability, while joining WIC was associated with a 0.99-point increase. Stores that carry a limited variety of food items may be more receptive to stocking healthier food than previously thought, particularly within neighborhoods with a majority of black residents. Policies targeting healthy food availability have the potential to increase availability and decrease health disparities.
authors.affiliation: Laura K. Cobb is a senior technical adviser at the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, North America. This work was completed while Cobb was a doctoral student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Laura K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Cobb
authors.affiliation: Cheryl A. M. Anderson (c1anderson@ucsd.edu) is an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Health at the University of California, San Diego.
authors.forename: Cheryl A M
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Appel is a professor and the director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins University.
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Appel
authors.affiliation: Jessica Jones-Smith is an assistant professor in international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jones-Smith
authors.affiliation: Usama Bilal is a graduate student in epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
authors.forename: Usama
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bilal
authors.affiliation: Joel Gittelsohn is a professor in international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gittelsohn
authors.affiliation: Manuel Franco is an associate professor in cardiovascular epidemiology research at the Universidad de Alcalá, in Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Franco
mesh_terms: D015142:Baltimore; D003132:Commerce / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D063105:Food Assistance / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005523:Food Supply; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Epidemiology; Food environment; Food policy