We asked: Do you think food deserts add to the racial disparities in stroke statistics? Our Facebook fans have spoken. Find out how your colleagues feel about how food deserts, defined by the USDA as parts of the country devoid of fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthful whole foods, contribute to racial disparities in stroke statistics.

Yes, but I think we have to be careful to make a distinction between race and class. I think food deserts definitely add to disparities in chronic health problems in low-income populations. Are most low-income populations also minority populations? Yes. That said, it is not necessarily wise to make the immediate assumption that we are observing a race-associated phenomenon. Correlation does not equate causation. I think it’s a class disparity that we’re seeing that also disproportionately affects minorities.
— Felicia Rockko

Food disparities in different socioeconomic groups more than racial groups.
— Kelly Serra

Yes. Food deserts are defined as urban neighborhoods and/or rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy and affordable foods. Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, these communities may have no access to food or access to only fast food chains. The lack of access contributes to a poor diet, increased levels of obesity, etc.
— Cheryl Morgan Brown

No access to fresh fruits or vegetables? The only grocery items available being empty calorie and high contents of everything we know to cause atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia? Absolutely. Not just stroke but many other health issues.
— Bree Trevino

Yes, if healthy food markets are not conveniently accessible, it is more likely people will make poor food choices.
— Nicole Alarcon

Thank you. I had never heard that term before and didn’t realize how vast the problem is in this country.
— Lynn Aponte

People eat what they can afford. When I was in nursing school (and a single parent), I bought a loaf of bread, gallon of milk, hot dogs and, if we were lucky, every once in a while got some mac and cheese. We lived.
— Kelly Case Ornelas

Absolutely. What we eat either makes us ill or keeps us healthy. There aren’t many healthy choices in a food desert.
— Dana Marie DeTrizio

I was raised in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Ask anyone raised during that time and they will tell you all this food and workout drama going on today is foolishness! If my mom and dad did not hunt for the meat, fish for it, grow our own veggies, pick our own fruit … it didn’t make it on our food table for nourishment, and I never once heard my parents say anything like what I hear today from the diet drama that adults are passing down to their children. However, if moms would cook real food for their kids and put it on the table, and eat together as a family, there would be no need to fight the diet chit chat going on in today’s society.
— Renee Rachelle Williams

No!
— Nancy Yale Kwak

Ridiculous.
— Carrie Anne Cmarada

Yes.
— April Jones Collum

To see what else is trending in stroke, visit www.Nurse.com/Stroke.