UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal

Food deserts are typically associated with limiting health variables, which can contribute to poor nutrition and result in negative medical conditions among residents. Patterns in the differences and similarities in the experiences of residents within urban and rural food deserts are caused by a myriad of factors. This paper will display how all three of the referenced studies conducted on different urban and rural food desert locations within the U.S. indicate that rural residents face a greater amount of health disparities due to variables like affordability and income, distance, time of day, and social and demographic variables–all of which can affect one's nutritional intake. Researching and exploring comparisons between various urban and rural food deserts within the U.S. can indirectly lead to possible intervention and alleviation methods to improve access to nutritional foods. Research-based solutions that tackle nutritional intake in both urban and rural food deserts could effectively reduce and potentially mitigate a multitude of negative health consequences caused by living in a food desert, those of which tend to be made up of low-income residents and people of color. A more condensed food desert map within a singular state such as California was initially considered for a smaller area to analyze, but many available studies on food deserts conduct their research from different locations in the U.S.