On February 20, the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) will host a Connect & Explore webinar titled, “Click, Click, Cook: Online Grocery Shopping Leaves ‘Food Deserts’ Behind.”
The webinar will provide a brief overview of a study recently published in JAMA, “Availability of Grocery Delivery to Food Deserts in States Participating in the Online Purchase Pilot”; and discuss opportunities to expand programs and policies to increase food access and improve diet quality in food deserts through online grocery delivery services.
In early 2019, the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) began a pilot program in which clients had the option of purchasing groceries via an online grocery delivery service. An analysis from Yale University studied food deserts in eight states—Alabama, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington—and found that most people in “food deserts” would increase their access to healthy, nutritious food if they purchased groceries online and had the food delivered as part of SNAP.
The analysis also showed that online grocery delivery systems already cover about 90 percent of food deserts—places where access to healthy food is limited—and the benefits of allowing SNAP families to buy healthy food online are far-reaching and wide-ranging and provide nutrients and nourishment that reduce obesity, boost energy, and promote better eating habits and behaviors, which can lower the risk for serious illnesses.
Join us on Thursday, February 20, at 1:00 p.m. ET, for the one-hour webinar. Guest speakers include:
- Eric J. Brandt, MD, National Clinician Scholar, Instructor of Medicine (Section of Cardiology), Yale University School of Medicine
- Jerold R. Mande, MPH, Professor of the Practice, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University
Register today to receive webinar access. The event is free, but attendance is limited.
Invite a colleague and share this information on your social networks using the hashtag #ConnectExplore. We will live tweet the event at @NCCOR. For those who cannot attend, the webinar will be recorded and archived on www.nccor.org.