Cost per calorie of chips or fruits: Produce prices, variety and caloric intake effects on food purchases in corner stores/bodegas in NYC

The combination of limited funds, poor access to healthy foods and the proliferation of calorie dense foods are thought to be highly correlated with the higher prevalence of chronic diseases among low-income neighbourhood residents.

 Method: City Harvest started the Healthy Corner Store program to work with the corner stores (CS) in the 5 neighbourhoods it serves to increase access to healthy foods. We surveyed 294 customers in intervention and comparison stores, and took inventory of products sold in 33 CS to determine factors influencing shopping behaviours.

Result: Customers were buying more chips (n=119, 40%) than fruits (n=100, 34%) and vegetables (n=65, 22%).  Costs per calorie of fruits and vegetables were more expensive (0.0079-0.0133/calorie) than chips (0.0023-0.0028/calorie, p<0.05), which is consistent with customers buying more chips. As the varieties of fruits sold increased, the percentage of customers purchasing healthy food items increased (fruits low variety CS n=28, 25%, medium n=46, 34%, high n=26, 55%; vegetables low n=15, 13%, medium n=31, 23%, high n=19, 40%; whole wheat bread low n=28, 25%, medium n=42, 31%, high n=27, 57%; water low n=39, 35%, medium n=70, 51%, high n=21, 45%, p<0.05 for all products). Results for vegetables are similar. Advertising, produce quality and fast food restaurant distance were not significantly associated.

Conclusions: Cost and availability of produce are significantly associated with shopping behaviour. Working with CS owners to increase produce varieties positively influences healthy shopping habits among customers. Interventions should also include price reduction strategies, such as sales promotions and or incentivizing low-income customers to buy produce through voucher redemption programs.