Students map out food, exercise outlets in Danville area

Virginia Tech researchers are in town mapping Danville’s food and exercise outlets to see how the environment influences residents’ health.

Undergrad and graduate students are using the nutrition environment measures survey to determine what foods are available to locals in restaurants and grocery and convenience stores, said Jennie Hill, Human Nutrition Foods and Exercise assistant professor. The focus isn’t just on access, but also quality, quantity and some pricing, like if the healthy option at a restaurant is more or less expensive than the standard item.

The study will also paint a picture of available physical activity outlets, like parks, private gyms and recreation centers and aims to look at the quality of amenities, like playground equipment condition, and deterrents to use, like trash or little lighting, Hill said. In future work, researchers will conduct a telephone survey about perceptions of safety in using those outlets.

While places in the Dan River Region are known anecdotally to have access issues, the study would collect data for use in local planning and for future grant applications, Hill said.

“We really see this as data to help build a rationale for future work — what needs to be done?” Hill said. “ … It really just provides context for all the other efforts going on in the region.”

The need for such an assessment arose from a community-academic effort called the Dan River Partnership for a Healthy Community that formed a couple years ago as local stakeholders wanted to reduce the prevalence of obesity.

Last year, the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth provided the coalition a two-year $59,200 grant to identify interventions to reduce obesity, said Jamie Zoellner, Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise assistant professor. That also spurred the development of local community gardens to assess their impact on local health.

Several low-income census tracts in Danville and Pittsylvania County are labeled as “food deserts,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service’s online food desert locator. Low food access is defined as people residing more than a mile from a supermarket in a city and more than 10 miles for those in rural areas.

Many Danvillians also lack a vehicle to access the stores. Some end up turning to nearby convenience stores where the costs are higher and where there isn’t a wide array of fruits and vegetables, said Spencer Neale, Virginia Farm Bureau Federation senior assistant director of commodity marketing.

As society became more mobile, grocery stores followed people and money to the suburbs or higher-income areas, leaving low-income neighborhoods and those without a vehicle behind, Neale explained. In rural areas, food may be grown nearby, but residents may not have a way of buying it.

Expanding local food production and selling direct from the farm to consumers has also been a focus in some areas, he added. For instance, groups in the Charlottesville area are developing food hubs so small distributors can service farmers who don’t have the time or desire to sell at farmers markets.

Neale represents farmers on the Virginia Food System Council, which is conducting a statewide food system assessment due to be finished in November. The council expects to make recommendations after studying access, production, infrastructure and regulation issues.

“How you solve it is another story,” Neale said. “This is sort of the first step in providing a tool to local planners.”

If you go

» Attend Dan River Partnership for a Healthy Community meetings the first Wednesday of every month from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Pepsi building downtown.

» For more information, email Terri Corsi at tcorsi@vt.edu.