In U.S. food desert, a vision of oases

FOR THE first time in history, American children are living shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. In the past 30 years, the childhood obesity rate has tripled, and trend lines for adults are no more encouraging. In 20 years, half of all adults in the U.S. are projected to be obese.

Make no mistake - the obesity epidemic in America is leading to increasing rates of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and this is having a major impact on our economy. Ten percent of health-care costs in the U.S. are attributed to preventable, obesity-related illnesses, and some projections indicate that that figure could double.

Parents have a responsibility to teach their children healthy eating habits that will guide them throughout their lives, but for too many families it is not as simple as just heading to the local grocery store. Every day, all across this country, 24 million Americans live in food deserts, defined as either urban areas lacking access to a supermarket within one mile, or rural areas lacking similar access within 10 miles. Without a convenient and affordable way to buy healthy food, individuals either spend hours traveling or are forced to feed their families significantly less nutritious options, many of which are often more expensive.

If we want to fight the obesity epidemic in this country, we should start with the most basic solution: access to healthy foods. Increasing access to grocery stores in underserved communities will address this growing problem and will help stimulate local economic development.

Why in a country as wealthy as America is access to healthy food such a problem?

High start-up costs and limited access to capital often prevent local grocery operators from opening new outlets in food deserts, even though many that have opened in these underserved communities have been commercially successful. Urban grocery-store owners face increased real-estate costs or limited availability of commercial real estate, increased employee training needs and costs, elevated security expenses and, often, zoning restrictions. Grocery stores in rural food deserts face increased food-delivery costs due to distance from distributors, dispersed customer base and low volume.