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Comment by colmvp | Hacker News Reader

The article implies that people of low-income backgrounds are vulnerable to obesity. It wouldn't surprise me given that it's a lot cheaper to fill yourself up with soft drinks and carbs like bread/pasta/rice than it is to do with vegetables (at least, without a lot more research/effort).

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It is not cheaper. The poverty tax is in knowledge, and it is paid twice - easily accessible food is expensive for its quality. With enough money to buy time or expertise to manage your diet, you can pay less money for higher quality food.

The poor don't have time for that or much cooking—they have two jobs.

They could cook on the weekend or on their day off and try to use a crock pot or bake things as those can be done while doing other things at the same time.

Cooking doesn't necessarily take much time.

It's also a lot quicker and easier to prepare packaged and ready-to-eat meals which have some scary nutritional profiles. Poor people can often have chaotic and busy lives which precludes finding and preparing fresh food.

Also: http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/usda-defi...

Also, they may simply lack access. Try walking to your nearest grocery in the US.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

Availability doesn't appear to trump culture.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/upshot/giving-the-poor-eas...

"Generational habits of consumers don't change overnight" seems a less than surprising conclusion for something as social as food. Even with availability + affordability + community education, I can't expect you'd be looking at less than a half-generation for diets to change.

Ergo, food deserts aren't a valid way to look at the situation, since availability isn't the fundamental problem.

That doesn't following from my way of looking at it.

Your view as I understand it: research shows that availability doesn't change dietary habits over the short term, therefore something other than availability is the fundamental problem.

My view: the research you've linked shows that availability doesn't change dietary habits over the short term, but that might still mean that availability is a fundamental problem over the longer term or still a necessary but not sufficient fundamental problem over the short term (e.g. maybe it takes availability + education).

Hell, look at canned vegetables. Most contain sugar; you have to buy more expensive frozen or fresh stuff if you want something unadulterated.

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