One-Year Follow-Up Examination of the Impact of the North Carolina Healthy Food Small Retailer Program on Healthy Food Availability, Purchases, and Consumption

Stephanie B. Jilcott Pitts, Qiang Wu, Kimberly P. Truesdale, Lindsey Haynes-Maslow, Jared T. McGuirt, Alice Ammerman, Ronny Bell and Melissa N. Laska
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Stephanie B. Jilcott Pitts: Department of Public Health, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27834, USA
Qiang Wu: Department of Biostatistics, College of Allied Health Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27834, USA
Kimberly P. Truesdale: Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Lindsey Haynes-Maslow: Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Jared T. McGuirt: Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA
Alice Ammerman: Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Ronny Bell: Department of Public Health, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27834, USA
Melissa N. Laska: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-10

Abstract: We examined the short-term impact of the North Carolina Healthy Food Small Retailer Program (HFSRP), a legislatively appropriated bill providing funding up to $25,000 to small food retailers for equipment to stock and promote healthier foods, on store-level availability and purchase of healthy foods and beverages, as well as customer dietary patterns, one year post-policy implementation. We evaluated healthy food availability using a validated audit tool, purchases using customer bag-checks, and diet using self-reported questionnaires and skin carotenoid levels, assessed via Veggie Meter™, a non-invasive tool to objectively measure fruit and vegetable consumption. Difference-in-difference analyses were used to examine changes in HFSRP stores versus control stores after 1 year. There were statistically significant improvements in healthy food supply scores (availability), with the Healthy Food Supply HFS score being −0.44 points lower in control stores and 3.13 points higher in HFSRP stores pre/post HFSRP ( p = 0.04). However, there were no statistically significant changes in purchases or self-reported consumption or skin carotenoids among customers in HFSRP versus control stores. Additional time or other supports for retailers (e.g., marketing and promotional materials) may be needed for HFSRP implementation to influence purchase and consumption.

Keywords: nutrition policy; food deserts; health disparities; rural populations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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