Distance to Supermarket Tied to Disease Risk
Location matters!
Researchers from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University identified the distance between a household and a supermarket as a risk factor for certain health conditions. Having to travel a long way to a full-service supermarket (defined as a store carrying a diverse line of groceries and with five or more checkout lanes) correlated with a higher risk of hypertension and diabetes over a 5-year timespan, according to a cohort study in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. The study included data on 777,994 individuals in 56 Chicago zip codes.
It was determined that the correlation between the distance to a supermarket and these medical conditions is largely explained by individual and neighborhood-level factors like income, racial composition, health insurance status and access to a vehicle.
See also: Fend Off Diabetes at the Supermarket
Matthew Kadey, MS, RD
Matthew Kadey, MS, RD, is a James Beard Award–winning food journalist, dietitian and author of the cookbook Rocket Fuel: Power-Packed Food for Sport + Adventure (VeloPress 2016). He has written for dozens of magazines, including Runner’s World, Men’s Health, Shape, Men’s Fitness and Muscle and Fitness.
