Grocery Store Access and the Food Insecurity–Obesity Paradox

This research tests for an association between grocery store access and paradoxical occurrences of coexisting obesity and food insecurity. Approximately 5000 respondents from the US Centers for Disease Control Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System's Social Context Module were matched to grocery access measures constructed by the Department of Agriculture. Bivariate probit regression analysis models the probability of obesity conditional on food insecurity. Results indicate that each additional percentage point of the local population without a car living farther than a mile from a grocery store is associated with a 1.4 percentage point greater likelihood of obesity for food insecure households. This finding supports claims that the healthy food inaccessibility is a determinant of the insecurity–obesity paradox.