http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/04/18/study_food_deserts_have_access_to_food.html?from=rss/&wpisrc=newsletter_slatest
However, the New York Times reports that a new batch of research has some questioning the link between childhood obesity and the type of food being sold in a neighborhood, as well as whether more affluent neighborhoods truly have better access to a wide-range of food.
One study from the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that poor neighborhoods had nearly twice the amount of convenient stores and fast food restaurants as wealthier areas. While that finding may not come as a surprise, the study also found that the poor neighborhoods also had access to more large supermarkets and chain grocery stores per square mile.
"It is always easy to advocate for more grocery stores,” Kelly D. Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, who was not involved in the studies, told the Times. "But if you are looking for what you hope will change obesity, healthy food access is probably just wishful thinking."
