ABSTRACT
The term food desert was born during a study of a socially deprived housing estate in west Glasgow by the Low Income Project Team (LIPT) in 1996; a local resident used the phrase to communicate their perception of the lack of good quality, reasonably priced food in the area. Nelson et al wrote that women in UK households that shopped at a large supermarket consumed significantly higher amounts of fruit and vegetables compared with other women. This correspondence between diet and type of local retailer is partly geographical, partly economic. Low income is strongly linked with poor diet and obesity. Physical access to food retailing is far more than simply distance to shops, or even distance to a bus stop. A large rise in crime can deter walking as much as a 6 degree celcius drop in temperature, climatic extremes may also create barriers to food access. Barriers can arise even inside a grocery store.
