Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the inequitable access to resources, leading to a disproportionate burden of disease in vulnerable communities in the USA. However, these inequities in health outcomes are not limited to COVID-19. Approximately 18% of cancers are related to dietary behaviors and excess body weight. Underserved communities, such as minority racial/ethnic groups living in neighborhoods of low socioeconomic status, experience barriers to healthy eating including lack of access to high-quality healthy foods and higher availability of unhealthy foods and beverages in local retail food outlets. Strikingly, these same populations are more likely to die from cancers related to dietary intake and obesity like colorectal, liver, and pancreatic cancers. To reduce cancer inequities, policy makers can act by supporting programs that incentivize healthy food purchases and improve the local food environment in underserved communities.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | ibab081 |
Pages (from-to) | 2123-2126 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Translational behavioral medicine |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 12 |
Early online date | Jul 5 2021 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 14 2021 |
Keywords
- COVID-19
- Farm Bill
- Health policy
- Healthy Food Financing Initiative
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
- Health equity
- Cancer
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Applied Psychology