Citywide Access to Supermarkets in New Orleans Equivalent to Pre-Hurricane Katrina Level

Newswise — New Orleans —Citywide supermarket access among New Orleans residents is equivalent to what it was before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in late 2005, according to new research released today at the American Public Health Association’s 142nd Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
Research from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine also showed that fewer New Orleans supermarkets were located in predominantly African-American neighborhoods than in others prior to Hurricane Katrina. These disparities worsened after the storm but have been gradually improving, since the low point, when it was measured in 2007.
“In general, supermarkets offer a larger volume and wider variety of healthy foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, than smaller stores,” said lead author Adrienne Mundorf, MPH, a program manager at the Tulane Prevention Research Center. “Understanding shifts in food access helps to address larger public health inequalities related to diet, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.”
Several local programs implemented after Hurricane Katrina, including the Fresh Food Retailer Initiative, have helped to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to communities with previously limited access, though the authors did not assess whether this was the cause of the improvement.
APHA’s 142nd Annual Meeting is themed, “Healthography: How Where You Live Affects Your Health and Well-Being” and will focus on how health challenges are dictated by place.
Session 5051.0: New Orleans Foodography: Place-based food access issues in the tenth year after Katrina
Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Researchers: Adrienne Mundorf, MPH , Prevention Research Center, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA;Amelia Willits-Smith, MS , Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA;Diego Rose, PhD, MPH , Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA
Information for media:The APHA Annual Meeting Press Office will be located in Room 204 of the Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Conventions Center# # #