11 Facts About Food Deserts

1. A food desert is a district with little or no access to healthy foods. They are usually found in urban environments, but occasionally can be in rural places.
2. Most food deserts are areas with extremely high poverty rates. The people living there can’t afford to buy the foods that are needed to maintain a healthy diet, like fruits and vegetables.
3. About 2.3 million people live more than one mile away from a supermarket and don’t own a car.
4. Supermarkets are sparse in food deserts, and the products found there are usually not fresh, organic, or healthy.
5. Food deserts result in sky-rocketing obesity rates, because of the lack healthful, affordable food.
6. With no other options, people living in food deserts get most of their meals from fast food restaurants.
7. Activists like Michelle Obama and Mari Gallagher have taken on the challenge of wiping out food deserts.
8. Over the past 5 years, food deserts have been decreased by almost 40%.
9. You can find food deserts near you with the USDA’s new food desert locater map. 
10. The death rate from diabetes in a food desert is twice that of areas with access to grocery stores.
11. White neighborhoods have an average of 4 times as many supermarkets as predominantly black and Hispanic areas do.

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Sources:

USDA

The New York Times

Food Empowerment Project