Transcript HCS Nutrition Programx

By: Isabelle Fesale, Karrah Peters
Frangelina , Naa-Akomaah, Kunsung, and Seye
1. Introduction/ Abstract
2. Hypothesis
3. Materials
4. Methodology: What did we do?
5. Limitations
6. Urban Geography
7. Socioeconomics
8. Discussion
9. Appendix:
Results
Last Year vs. This Year
10. Conclusion
1. Future work/ Scientific Implications
2. Acknowledgements
Nutrition is the survival guide for every living organism on this planet. It
provides them with various nutrients, minerals, fats and other necessities that
restore energy to different parts of the body. Nutrition plays a major role in the
human lifestyle but many people do not know the consequences that arise when
they develop an unhealthy diet. The purpose of this project is to observe various
supermarkets, farmer’s markets and corner stores throughout New York City and
analyze the products for its quality and appearances. This project also analyzed
the environment, cleanliness, income levels and obesity levels of the surrounding
areas of the markets and the location of the markets.
Low income areas have poorer quality and limited availability of fresh food from
local suppliers. These neighborhoods have fewer health facilities such as fitness centers,
nutritional supplement retailers, and health food stores. These areas are more prone to
health related illnesses and conditions; such as obesity and diabetes. Food retailers of
natural and organic products do not open businesses in low income area, due to the income
level, taxes, and high crime rates. Low income consumers do not patronize these businesses
due to residence, lack of health education and high prices of good quality foods.
•Online services which consists of databases/ our references
•New York subway as a source of transportation
•Farmer Market flyers which gave a detailed description of the items they were displaying
•Our Senses
•Cameras
•Library
•Site notes
•Green markets
•Metro cards
What are Monday meetings?
Our mentor, Brandon Burton, decided that every Monday at 1:00 p.m., all
ten groups would meet at the park on 86th street and East End to discuss the
components of our project, our experiment, and background information that was
essential to our work. These meetings started from July 22 to current. These meetings
are very important because it informs us on what to expect throughout this experience
and key terms we should keep in mind for our experiment.
We first began discussing the food pyramid as a basic guideline
to a healthy living. The Food pyramid is an outline of what you should
consume each day based on Dietary Guidelines. The Food pyramid is
composed of Fats (oils and sweets), Meat (Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs
and Nuts Group), Dairy (milk, yogurt, and cheese), vegetables, fruits, and
Carbohydrates (Bread, Pasta and Rice.) If you observe and analyze the
Food pyramid, you will notice that the more unhealthy or unimportant
the foods are for the body, the more they belong on top like Fats for
examples.
Recommended amounts:
Fats- A very low portion
Meat- 2-3 servings
Dairy- 2-3 servings
Vegetables- 3-5 servings
Fruits- 2-3 servings
Carbohydrates- 6-11 servings
Our main categories that we took into consideration for our research project was
diabetes, obesity, whether or not we were going to include a survey, and the research itself.
What we were going to look for in terms of Diabetes?
•Death rate of those with diabetes
The ages of those who were diabetic
n in which it occurs
•Food available
•Break down of genders
•Health Factors associated with ethnicity
Number of people with health insurance
•Do you have a higher chance of getting diabetes if you are obese?
•Closest hospitals/health facilities
Mortality Rate
Price of supplies
People admitted in hospitals
How many fast food restaurants in specific area
What we were going to look for in terms of Obesity?
•Type of restaurants
•Transportation
•Overweight population
Age group
Survey
The survey was a major issue in our discussions because we as the nutrition
group were not sure if we were going to include the survey or not.
Advantage of using survey:
We would give the survey
to a cashier or random
employee in supermarkets
and ask a variety of
questions, such as:
•How often do you eat
outside of home? etc.
•different ethnicities
•gender
•we could use databases
online
•would be a firsthand
account
Disadvantage of using a
survey
•Could
be
time
consuming for us
•may not be truthful
•could be a challenge to
ask people
•Do you trust the human
perception?
After long debating, we came up with a clear consensus. We were
going to construct a survey but only distribute it in stores, as those individuals
on the streets will most likely ignore us. We were also going to do one general
survey and 90% of it would be an anonymous survey while 10% would be a
little personal.
What questions would we include in survey?
•age group
•zip code
•medical history
•How often do you shop at particular store?
•Where do they eat?
•culture
•Ask how healthy are they (might become risky because many people could lie
for example if the person is clearly obese but says they eat like a marathon
runner)
•For personal questions
-Are you diabetics and how did you get it?
-Do you have any health insurance?
What we were going to look for in terms of Research:
•Demographics: ethnicity, number of women or men in community
•income
•crime rates
•housing
•education
•number of schools
•types of businesses
•facilities
•religion
•culture: foreign born people
•restaurants
•Cleanliness
•How many trashcans around, litter, and hours of sanitation
•single family homes/ marriage
•age group
•number of people in household
•mortality rate
The site visits were conducted with every group. Each group would be
assigned a place, and a designated time was given to that group to meet. As
the group reaches a neighborhood, they would first analyze the neighborhood
and take notes on the makeup of the area. They would look at things such as
average income, health, race, and etc. It is the group's responsibility to tie
these characteristics together and come up with their own conclusion and
opinion of the area. They would then move their attention to the local Farmer's
Market. They would analyze the market and give it a grade according to their
criteria.
Our Criteria:
. Presentation
.the freshness of the fruits
. accessibility meaning how easily the farmers market can be
found
. and friendliness of the sellers are such things that we decided
should be taken in account
Then we visit the local supermarket where the same criterion is
considered. We look at the quality and the quantity of the food. After we made
our rounds in the local farmers market and the super market, we visited the
corner store. We analyzed the corner store in the same fashion as we did with
the farmers market and the super market except on a smaller scale. We also
analyzed how the super market affects the corner store. Corner stores tend to be
very poorly stocked when it comes to fruits and vegetables if there is a super
market nearby because the owners do not compete with an opponent that
clearly has an upper hand. Instead they target their products to a different sort
of customers and stock their store with junk food and drinks, which only come in
large packaging in the super market.
Harlem – 125TH street
-Prominently Hispanic/ African American
-A lot of Single parent mothers wondering the streets
-The Farmer Markets sold fruits and vegetables. Some had a greater variety than others.
-Was not very clean
-Peaches- $2 per 1b
-Lettuce $2 per bag
-Carrots $2
-All the items were grown in Upstate New York
Brooklyn- Caroll Gardens
-We categorized it as an upper class neighborhood
-The Farmer Markets was like a small metropolitan area
-Products in Farmer’s Markets were grown in privately owned farms
-Organic milk was $7 per gallon compared to supermarkets
-Most of the cheeses were all handmade, which makes the process slower causing the sellers to
make the prices higher.
Caroll Gardens Continued
-The fish market had a variety of different types of fish
-The fishes were all fresh salt water fish
-Were caught in Long Island
- Also sold vegetables which were hardly found in New York City
- Sold a variety of organic chesses
- Owners were very friendly and even gave out free samples
The prices were high but the products were in very good quality and shipped from
various places in the United States.
Supermarket
-
-This was one of the best we’ve visited by far
- The meat section was very high in quality and the presentation was very organized
Very clean
Very fashionable neighborhood and prominently Caucasian
- Very ethnic, high class restaurants
Queens- Astoria
-Very Mediterranean
-Upper middle class
-Restaurants: Indian, Caribbean, Asian, Bakeries
Supermarket
-Called Trade Fair
-Sold many Kosher products
-Separated Kosher meat from regular meat
-Olives
-Vegetables
-Tons of fruits
-Organized
-Clean
-A lot of household items
-Healthy food
Corner Store
- Right across the street from supermarket
-Sold soda, cigarettes, newspapers
-Owner was cruel because he thought we were part of food
inspection.
Advantage
.We were given the opportunity to visit places all over New York City
.Visited all five boroughs unlike last year
/Learned a tremendous amount about nutrition and different communities
nutrition
Disadvantage
.Poorly organized
.Mentors did not double- check whether or not a Farmer Market in a given
area existed.
.Poor Punctuality on both the mentor behalf and group members
. Some stores only allowed a certain amount of us to enter the store at once.
.Some got kicked out of stores
. People not putting enough effort towards the project
Urban Geography is the study of urban areas which have a high concentration and/or
percentage of buildings and infrastructure. These are areas where the majority of economic
activities are in the secondary sector such as manufacturing and the tertiary sector of the
economy also known as the service sector or service industry. Urban geography is also the
branch of science that deals with the study of urban areas in terms of concentration,
infrastructure, economy, and environmental impacts. We relate to urban geographers and
geography in so many different ways. We have been to and researched one of the largest urban
areas in the world, New York City. We studied the demographics, religious diversity and the role
of the people in the community. We focus on the environmental factors and the significance of
one thing to another. We found that the people in urban areas depend on there surroundings
greatly. The surroundings have affected some of the people’s health, well-being, and mental
state of mind whether it may be good or bad. Most of our site visits were to urban areas. Studies
have found that many low income areas have no grocery stores offering, healthy affordable
foods. People living in such areas have no choice but to buy over priced processed foods that are
typically high in fat, salt, and sugar. Research has also found that chain stores often charge higher
prices in low income areas than they do in high income areas. Lack of access to healthy food and
higher food prices have been linked to the higher rates of diabetes and other chronic diseases
seen in low income groups.
Spatial distribution also falls into urban geography and the nutrition group.
Spatial distribution is the act of dispersing and may be the geographic occurrence of an
organism or range of a custom pr usage. Most people in the urban areas are unhealthy
because quality food is more expensive. Quality food means a higher nutritive value such
as proteins minerals and vitamins while the cheap junk food is rich in starches and oils and
is deposited in abundant fatty layers. Another example of spatial distribution may be the
recreational centers, parks, or gyms nearby. There are not many of those in urban areas and
if there are some you might have to pay causing the people to ignore these facilities and
instead gaining weight and doing things that pleases them.
Socio-Economics plays a huge role in life especially in nutrition. Socio-Economics is the study
or comparison between economic activity and social life. The reason why it plays a huge role in our
everyday life especially in nutrition is because, if you do not have a great income it is unlikely for you to
eat healthy and buy the proper food for yourself. Therefore that decreases the chances of you eating and
buying nutritious food. But this does not all apply to everyone, for example everyone’s income and
neighborhood are not the same. In boroughs like Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx everything
is different in there own way and so is everyone’s income. Each one we visited had something different
from all the rest. For example we went to 125st. in Harlem to observe a farmers market a super market
and a grocery store. There were also a lot of African Americans and a high rate in teen pregnancy. There
were many building tall, short, fancy, old, and so forth. We also noticed that most of the people spend
there time at the public park sitting in benches and doing nothing. We also observed that in one specific
building had they a very large flag similar to the American flag but the only difference was that this flag
was in different colors. The colors were red, black, green, and this flag represented the African Americans.
What we concluded from this observation was that from the symbol that the flag represented it could
have been possible that the majority of the population in Harlem is made up of African Americans. Many
aspects of the neighborhood even the people themselves showed a huge reflect upon there economy.
Some people where dressed with decent clothes while other had regular clothes. This showed a sign
about there income some had nice expensive clothes while other bought clothes from stores that had
affordable prices.
Another thing we observed was that most people were not well in shaped. This showed a bad sign
which was that not everyone is eating healthy and watching out for what they are eating daily. The reason for
this maybe because of there income, due to it being low they probably do not have the chances and
opportunities that a person with high income do. When most people do not exceed a certain limit of income it
gets hard for them to specify what to buy. So they go for the second choice which is to buy what is
affordable. But by doing this they do not know that they are harming themselves and will soon end up not
having a stable healthy life. People’s income can affect them more than they think.
The following graphs show the various results found on each site visit.
Obesity Rates in Five Boroughs
70%
60%
50%
40%
Series 1
Column1
30%
Column2
20%
10%
0%
Bronx
Manhattan
Brookyln
Queens
Staten Island
Obesity rates out of 100% of all five boroughs Bronx has the highest and Manhattan
the lowest.
Cleanliness Rates of Farmers Market, Grocery Stores and Corner Stores on a 1-10 scale
9
8
7
6
5
Farmers market
Corner Stores
4
Grocery store
3
2
1
0
Harlem 125th
Caroll gardens
Astoria
When we went to these three sites and rated how clean each farmers market, grocery store,
and corner store was. These are the results.
Average Income throughout the Five Boroughs
Average income
Manhattan
Bronx
Brooklyn
Queens
Staten Island
This is the average income for people who live in these boroughs Manhattan is the
highest, then Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn and then the Bronx
The nutrition project started last year, so we decided to compare and
contrast last year’s project to ours. The sites they visited were similar to ours but
unlike this year, they weren’t able to go to all five boroughs, only two. The sites
they visited consisted of: Harlem, Inwood, Union Square, and Washington
Heights. But their future plans were to expand to all five boroughs. They
concluded that there was a clear variation between Farmer markets and super
market prices. There was a greater amount for lower price foods at Farmer
markets. They gave an example which showed that at Union Square’s Farmer
Market, the apples were $2.00 per pound whereas at the local supermarket,
apples were $3.00 per pound. Also, their reasoning was that an increase in
service at supermarkets may account for higher prices, variety over different
seasons, shipping costs and consistency.
In conclusion, this year nutrition project was a continuation of last
year’s so there was not many differences between them. The only factor was that
they were not able to explore more of New York to expand their research.
In conclusion, our research confirmed our hypothesis. The quality of food
vary depending on the income. If you earn a decent amount of money, you are
more likely to have a balanced diet and become more health conscious compared
to someone who is of lower class.
Overall, the end product of our research was a success. It was a very
enjoyable experience for all of us that participated. Going to different farmer’s
markets, corner stores, and supermarkets was an enjoyable learning experience as
well.
If we are chosen to the nutrition group next year, we would like to expand
past New York’s boroughs and maybe look at the farmers market/corner store/
supermarkets in other states. Doing this we can compare the results we collected in
New York and to the others states. Also in the future we would like to study more on
obesity by comparing their eating habits to the elderly or younger people.
Our research is important to the scientific community because it
determines whether or not people who live in certain areas in New York are living
healthy lives based on a variety of factors.
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Harlem Children Society and Staff
Brandon Burton (mentor)
Dr. Sat
Scott and Rami (co-mentor)
All the Farmer’s Markets, Supermarkets, grocery stores, etc.