Research
Perspectives in Practice
Availability of More Healthful Food Alternatives in Traditional, Convenience, and Nontraditional Types of Food Stores in Two Rural Texas Counties

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Abstract

Limited research has focused on the availability of more healthful food alternatives in traditional food stores (supermarkets and grocery stores) in rural areas. Current market trends suggest that food items may be available for purchase in stores other than traditional food stores. An observational survey was developed and used on-site to document the availability and variety of fruit and vegetables (fresh, canned, and frozen), meats (meat, poultry, fish, and eggs), dairy (milk, yogurt, and cheese), and grains (whole grains and refined grains) in all traditional food stores, convenience stores, and nontraditional food stores (dollar stores and mass merchandisers) in two rural Texas counties. Descriptive statistics and t tests identified that although the widest selection of more healthful food items was available in supermarkets, not all supermarkets carried all items. Grocery stores carried less variety of fresh fruits (8±0.7 vs 4.7±0.3; P<0.01) and vegetables (10.7±0.2 vs 6±0; P<0.001) than supermarkets. Fresh fruits and vegetables were not readily available in convenience or nontraditional food stores. Among convenience and nontraditional food stores, “dollar” stores offered the best variety of more healthful canned fruits and vegetables, whole-wheat bread, and whole-grain cereal. Mass merchandisers and dollar stores offered a greater variety of more healthful types of canned tuna and poultry, reduced-fat and skim milk, and low-fat tortillas. In these rural counties, traditional food stores offered greater availability of more healthful food choices across food groups. More healthful food choices in canned fruits and vegetables, canned meat and fish, milk, and grains were also available in dollar stores, mass merchandisers, and convenience stores. Results suggest that a complete understanding of the food environment, especially in rural areas, requires knowledge of the availability and variety of healthful food in all types of stores that are accessible to families.

Section snippets

Study Counties

The two counties selected for this study were the same two counties that community partners identified as sites for the first two community health resource centers in rural Brazos Valley. All traditional (supermarkets and grocery stores), convenience (convenience stores and food marts), and nontraditional (dollar stores and mass merchandisers) food stores were identified using ground truthing in the Brazos Valley Food Environment Project (18). Retail formats were defined using a modification of

Results

The study area consisted of two nonadjacent counties; one county with 1,725 km2 in land area and a population of 17,238, and the other with 1,218 km2 and 13,167 residents. The largest town in each county had a population of <3,600 residents. One county had two supermarkets (0.3 per 259 km2 and 1.16 per 10,000 residents), three grocery stores (0.45 and 1.74), 19 convenience stores (2.85 and 11.04), one mass merchandiser (0.15 and 0.58), and two dollar stores (0.3 and 1.16). The other county had

Discussion

This study extends our understanding of the availability of more healthful food choices in food stores and is apparently the first study, to our knowledge, that describes the availability of more healthful and less healthful choices from the MyPyramid food groups (41) across traditional, convenience, and nontraditional food stores in a rural area. Our analyses revealed a greater availability of more healthful food choices across food groups was offered by traditional food outlets (supermarkets

Conclusions

There is potential for intervention at multiple levels of the social ecology (56). Initiation of public policies that successfully improve the economic viability of rural communities is needed to increase the availability of healthful food products and to supply an adequate diet. Further development of policies will ensure adequate retail provision of foods to those who are disadvantaged (57). Collaborations among local food store owners, public and nonprofit agencies, and transportation

B. Bustillos is a captain in the US Army; at the time of the study, she was a graduate researcher, Department of Social and Behavioral Health, School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station

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  • Cited by (0)

    B. Bustillos is a captain in the US Army; at the time of the study, she was a graduate researcher, Department of Social and Behavioral Health, School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station

    J. R. Sharkey is an associate professor and director of the Program for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, Department of Social and Behavioral Health, School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station

    J. Anding is an associate professor and extension program leader, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Texas A&M University, College Station

    A. McIntosh is a professor, Department of Sociology, Texas A&M University, College Station

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