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标题：Exploring the Impact of Policies to Improve Geographic and Economic Access to Vegetables among Low-Income, Predominantly Latino Urban Residents: An Agent-Based Model
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作者：Deborah Salvo ; Pablo Lemoine ; Kathryn M. Janda 等
期刊名称：Nutrients
电子版ISSN：2072-6643
出版年度：2022
卷号：14
期号：3
DOI：10.3390/nu14030646
语种：English
出版社：MDPI Publishing
摘要：Modifying the food environment of cities is a promising strategy for improving dietary behaviors, but using traditional empirical methods to test the effectiveness of these strategies remains challenging. We developed an agent-based model to simulate the food environment of Austin, Texas, USA, and to test the impact of different food access policies on vegetable consumption among low-income, predominantly Latino residents. The model was developed and calibrated using empirical data from the FRESH-Austin Study, a natural experiment. We simulated five policy scenarios: (1) business as usual; (2)–(4) expanding geographic and/or economic healthy food access via the Fresh for Less program (i.e., through farm stands, mobile markets, and healthy corner stores); and (5) expanding economic access to vegetables in supermarkets and small grocers. The model predicted that increasing geographic and/or economic access to healthy corner stores will not meaningfully improve vegetable intake, whilst implementing high discounts (>85%) on the cost of vegetables, or jointly increasing geographic and economic access to mobile markets or farm stands, will increase vegetable intake among low-income groups. Implementing discounts at supermarkets and small grocers is also predicted to be an effective policy for increasing vegetable consumption. This work highlights the utility of agent-based modeling for informing food access policies.
关键词：enfood policyfood environmentdietary behaviorssystems sciencelow-income groups