Food Deserts and Obesity

You've probably heard about food deserts -- the idea that low-income neighborhoods have few if any grocery stores selling healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, leading to obesity and poor health among poor people. And, as the chart below shows, there is a fairly strong relationship in urban America between the poverty rate and the obesity rate:

 But that doesn't necessarily mean that eliminating the food deserts -- that is, bringing healthier foods to poor neighborhoods -- will begin to solve the problem. Food habits have to change, and the healthy foods need to be affordable. The problem is quite complex, as this article from Sunday's Washington Post shows. Go here as well.