Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States - Essay Example

Only 81% are able to eat the kinds of foods they want but majority also have to travel a far distance to reach the grocery stores of supermarkets (Larson, Story and Nelson, 2009). Research indicates that 8% of African Americans lack access to food while only 41% of the whites have access to food (U.S Department of Agriculture, 2009). The problem as indicated above is caused by food deserts. The other cause for these statistics are the fact that the supermarkets and groceries are not stocked with the kind of food people want and hence they end up not purchasing anything or just enough to eliminate their hunger but not get satisfied.

Lastly is the main reason which is the socio-economic status of people. People fail to access food not because it is unavailable but simply because they cannot afford it. The healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables are expensive and hence they rely on unhealthy risking diseases. Over 46% of low income neighbors have limited household access to healthy foods dues to their high prices (Larson, Story and Nelson, 2009). When there is food desert in any neighborhood, the only people who will be able to purchase the desired and affordable food are those with readily available transportation and money for the food which means those in middle and high level of socio-economic status.

Transportation in the rural areas is hard to come by and hence they lack access to healthy food. Majority of the city dwellers also face similar problem as their neighborhoods are filled with convenience stores and fast food joints and very few, sparsely spaced supermarkets and grocery stores. This translates to people within that neighborhood eating unhealthy foods majority of the time. The lack of access to healthy foods due to lack of access to supermarkets and grocery stores as well as the disparity in healthy food as a result of affordability calls for a policy to improve these low statistics if the US citizens are to start being healthy people and