Nutrition is a key determinant of health outcomes. Recent decades have seen unprecedented increases in urban populations, posing many nutritional challenges to urban children. Louisiana State, particularly the East Carroll Parish is among the unhealthiest communities in the United States, with high rates of obesity and overweight children (Galvin, 2019). Nutritional health challenges among urban children can be attributed to the vibrant fast food industry, which has altered people’s nutritional and lifestyle habits. Many urban centers experience undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity because of the easily available low-cost foods and beverages. Many of those foods are rich in calories, fat, sugar and salt. The foods are also easier and faster to prepare, making them convenient for those with tight schedules. The food sector employs a wide range of marketing techniques that make the foods appealing to children. Due to their time constraints, urban dwellers have greater exposure to food advertising and fast food vendors, who offer processed than prepared food (Cassady et al., 2015). Children grow up accustomed to fast foods which are tastier but less nutritious. As a result, many urban children report poor health outcomes. It is also important to note that certain segments of urban populations, especially the lower classes, have limited access to nutritional foods because they are costly. For instance, urban children have limited access to vegetables, fruits, fresh foods and other beneficially processed foods. Urban dwellers mostly rely on preserved foods, unlike their rural counterparts who can cultivate pieces of land and grow their food (Kimani-Murage et al., 2015). Additionally, the risk of food contamination is high in urban areas due to overcrowded conditions, filthy housing, unsafe water, uncollected garbage, and overflowing sewers. As children play, they easily come in contact with germs, which can contaminate their food if they do not observe proper personal hygiene. Therefore, this topic is important because urban children are at greater risk of malnutrition, nutrient deficiencies, and food poisoning.
Description of the Target Groups
The target groups are urban children who face more nutritional challenges than their counterparts in rural areas. Urban centers are at greater risk of unsanitary conditions because of the huge population of people and limited space, leading to overcrowding conditions. Overcrowding in households impedes the maintenance of personal hygiene and high standards of sanitation, increasing the risk of food contamination (Kimani-Murage et al., 2015). Children are naturally playful and interactive with their environment. They can easily pick up germs from stagnant water, uncollected garbage or overflowing sewers, and contaminate their food. Additionally, urban dwellers do not have land or farms to grow their food crops. Many of them depend on processed foods from fast food vendors. Processed and fast foods are deficient in important nutrients for children’s development. Moreover, food adverts and other promotional techniques mostly target urban dwellers, who because of their time constraints do not prepare their food but opt for the convenience of processed foods (Cassady et al., 2015). Notably, processed foods are cheaper but are of low nutritional value. Children who consume such foods are at greater risk of obesity and other lifestyle diseases when they grow up. Lastly, urban children are more exposed to the toxic diet culture that advocates for the consumption of pleasurable rather than nutritional foods. For instance, the toxic diet culture encourages the consumption of meat, fatty foods and alcoholic drinks instead of cereals, fruits and vegetables. The toxic diet culture is strengthened by the many celebrations that take place in urban centers. For instance, when parents organize birthdays for their children, they encourage them to consume cakes and other fast foods that increase their risks of lifestyle diseases. In other words, urban cultures do not emphasize healthy eating.
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Challenges and Barriers Tackling the Issue
One of the barriers to urban children overcoming nutritional challenges and having good health outcomes is the urban culture encouraging indulgence instead of restraint. The contemporary urban culture encourages city dwellers to indulge their sensual pleasures with little regard to their health outcomes. The culture of indulgence makes it difficult for urban children to differentiate good from bad food. Parents bring up their children without proper dietary education. It is important to note that children learn by observing the environment around them (Slusser et al., 2011). Since most urban dwellers do not abstain from unhealthy feeding habits, they cannot teach their children otherwise. Secondly, limited access to nutritional food in urban centers is another barrier to children overcoming nutritional challenges. While urban children may know that fruits and vegetables are healthy, many of them consume fatty, salty sugary and calorie-rich foods because of their ease of availability. The urban food supply chains focus on processed foods because they are more convenient to prepare and affordable. The urban environments create the notion that fast foods or processed foods are the norms rather than the exception because of their high availability. Only a few in the middle and upper socioeconomic classes can afford fresh foods or vegetables. Therefore, educating urban children on the need to consume nutritional foods is insufficient if other measures are not rolled out to make nutritious foods more available in urban centers.
Thirdly, urban children are also at greater risk of exposure to food advertisements and promotional campaigns for fast or processed foods, which shape their feeding habits and preferences. Urban children watch more television and are more exposed to social media content promoting fast foods than rural children (Cassady et al., 2015). Food advertisers tap into children’s fantasies to sway their food choices and feeding habits. For instance, adverts include celebrities or talking cartoons that use catchphrases that excite urban children and make them choose fast foods. Continued exposure to television adverts and other media content ultimately cements the children’s food choices. It is important to note that many food advertisements do not focus on nutritional foods because of their desire to appeal to wider market segments. Processed foods resonate with the vast majority of urban dwellers who do not have adequate time to prepare their own meals. Therefore, exposure to food promotions and adverts prevents urban children from overcoming their nutritional challenges and achieving quality health outcomes.
Fourthly, the lack of nutritional role models in society also makes overcoming nutritional challenges for urban children problematic. Urban children mainly look up to celebrities as their heroes. Many celebrities are sportspersons, artists, actors or professionals but do not inspire children to develop healthy eating habits. In essence, many celebrities promote the culture of indulgence in urban centers (Kimani-Murage et al., 2015). Children grow up emulating their heroes. Notably, some celebrities are used by food promotional companies to market certain processed foods, thereby supporting the consumption of nutrient-deficient products. Besides, parents are not good role models for their children. An average parent in an urban centre is a working-class parent with limited time for his or her family. Parents spend most of their time at work, making it difficult for them to prepare proper meals for their children (Kimani-Murage et al., 2015). Eventually, children grow up used to consuming fast foods, increasing their risks of poor health outcomes. As expressed, the lack of nutritional role models in urban societies makes children less likely to consume nutritional foods.
Literature Review
The subject of nutritional challenges in urban centers is extensively discussed in the literature. Vilar-Compte et al. (2021) studied urban poverty and its impact on access to nutritional food in cities. The authors used a systematic review design and analyzed 68 articles published between 2000 and 2009. The study showed that living conditions in urban centers are challenging for most urban dwellers. Many city dwellers need to pay rent and meet other basic needs, diminishing their living standards. Essentially, the costly urban life strains people’s incomes and limits their access to nutritional food. The study further showed that many urban dwellers consume fast or processed foods as a coping strategy to the limited access to healthy food. Consequently, the nutritional statuses of many urban dwellers are very poor because of the continued consumption of unhealthy foods. Notably, the authors showed that children in urban centers were at greater risk of becoming nutrition-deficient because of their limited access to proper food. Therefore, addressing urban poverty can significantly reduce nutritional challenges among urban dwellers. Similarly, Kimani-Murage et al. (2015) investigated the extent of the double burden of malnutrition in urban centers in Kenya and underscored the direct relationship between urban poverty and access to food. The objective of the study was to find out the impact of urban poverty on nutritional outcomes. In other words, urban poverty was a major hindrance to accessing nutritious food for many city dwellers. Importantly, the study found poor health outcomes among urban children, with 46% of those surveyed being stunted, 11% being underweight, 2.5% being wasted and 9% being overweight. The poor health outcomes stem from urban poverty, which impeded access to fresh food, fruits, vegetables and cereals. Besides, the poor health outcomes are attributed to the urban culture that encouraged the consumption of pleasurable foods instead of healthy foods. Consumption of cakes, pizzas, juices, sweets and snacks was found to be fashionable in the city compared to consumption of nuts or cereals. The findings echoed Vilar-Compte et al. (2021) by calling for urgent measures to address urban poverty. Addressing urban poverty could improve access to healthy food and enable urban children to record quality health outcomes.
Furthermore, Amare et al. (2018) studied the linkages between urbanization and nutritional outcomes and noted the existence of strong associations between urbanization and nutritional outcomes. However, the research revealed that stronger associations were seen in earlier stages of urbanization but weakened as urbanization stages advanced. The authors also highlighted the issue of urban poverty as a determinant of health outcomes in urban areas. Urban poverty influenced access to food and nutritional outcomes. The urban poor record poor nutritional outcomes because of their limited access to food. The findings were consistent with Slusser et al. (2011) who identified cost as a major barrier to accessing nutritious food. The researchers used a qualitative approach to determine the challenges to parent education on nutrition. The authors further studied the barriers of parent nutrition education and revealed that many parents only possessed basic knowledge on nutrition and hardly taught their children the need to maintain a proper diet. Moreover, the study revealed that most parents received their knowledge on nutrition from social media and could not ascertain the accuracy of social media information. Many parents in the study admitted to being primary consumers of fast or processed foods because of their time constraints and limited income. The findings suggest that many urban children face nutritional challenges because of their socioeconomic backgrounds. Urban children whose parents are poor have limited access to healthy food and are at a greater risk of poor nutritional outcomes.
Urban children’s food choices are also influenced by the type of media content they watch. A study by Fagerberg et al. (2019) showed that ultra-processed food adverts dominated the food promotional landscape in Stockholm. Promoters of fast and processed foods also targeted low-income areas where residents were less likely to afford healthy or nutritious food. The promotional messages on processed foods influenced the feeding habits of children in those areas. Another important finding of the study was that while some adults knew the nutritional risks of consuming ultra-processed food, they still preferred it because it was affordable. In a similar study, the prevalence of obesity among children and youth was high in areas where food marketing focused on processed or junk foods (Cassad et al., 2015). The study suggests that children and youth made their food choices based on the promotional messages they watched or listened to. In summary, the literature reviewed underscores the causal relationship between urban poverty and poor nutritional outcomes among children in urban centers. The literature also shows that urban children are constantly influenced by food marketing campaigns when making their diet decisions.
Potential Interventions
Many nutritional challenges that urban children face stem from urban poverty as previously discussed. Therefore, it is imperative to roll out a comprehensive policy to fight urban poverty. First, urban authorities could enact policies eliminating transitory areas in towns and cities. Urban centers have transitory areas that encourage rural to urban migration. Transitory areas include slums and neighborhoods with poor infrastructure or low-cost housing. Eliminating transitory areas will ensure people only move to cities when they have stable sources of livelihood necessary to maintain the minimum healthy living standards. The government can also curb urban poverty by investing in poor people and poor areas (URBACT, 2019). Measures to consider include developing the skills and knowledge levels of poor urban dwellers to make them employable or meaningfully engage in income-generating ventures. Local, state and federal authorities can launch training and job-matching programs to enhance access to employment opportunities for urban dwellers. Providing the urban poor with reliable sources of livelihood will improve their access to nutritious food.
Additionally, it is necessary to raise awareness of proper nutrition among urban residents and encourage them to practice and enlighten their children on the same. As revealed by Sussler et al. (2011), there is a huge gap in public knowledge on nutrition. Therefore, local, state and federal authorities can launch advocacy campaigns in urban centers aimed at enlightening people about the benefits of proper nutrition. Advocacy campaigns can be conducted through mass media or civic education in various parts of the city (Fageberg et al., 2019). The authorities can also cultivate a culture of healthy eating by mandating public institutions such as schools to prepare healthy meals for their children and banning the sale of junk or processed foods in such institutions. Organizations can also be urged to enlighten their staff and other stakeholders on proper nutrition. Media and other information outlets should also be at the forefront in emphasizing nutritional foods and dismantling the indulgence culture and consumption of processed foods. Adverts on processed foods should be replaced with those marketing nutritious food so that urban children get the right message about nutrition. Educating the urban public will enable them to educate and raise their children in proper nutritional environments.
Lastly, the government can subsidize the production of nutritious foods to make them affordable to everybody in urban centers. The government could subsidize raw materials such as fertilizers to lower the cost of production that farmers incur so that they can sell their produce cheaply. Incentivizing the agricultural sector will lower the cost of nutritious food and enhance its availability in urban areas (Amare et al., 2018). On the other hand, the government could diminish the supply of fast foods by raising taxes in the fast-food sector. By taxing producers of fast foods and processed foods more, many may be forced to change to nutritious food production. Ultimately, urban dwellers will have easier access to affordable healthy food.
Advocating for Change
There are four main causes of nutritional challenges for urban children in Louisiana. First, the problem of urban poverty limits access to nutritious food. Secondly, the problem of urban culture portrays the consumption of junk or processed foods as fashionable. The third cause is exposure to food adverts, most of which encourage the consumption of less nutritious foods and lastly, lack of nutritional role models for urban children. Urban poverty can be handled at the institutional or government level. However, at a personal level, the urban culture can change from encouraging consumption of junk foods to healthy foods. Sara’s video can be used to advocate for change and attain quality nutritional outcomes among urban children. The video underscores the need for education as a means of pushing for change. To change the culture one must educate others to embrace new beliefs and practices. Changing the urban culture requires courage because it involves going against the existing norms and practices and educating urban residents to change their feeding habits and behaviors. In essence, it takes courage to be seen to be doing something that contravenes the characteristics of the natural and social landscape (Vimeo, 2019a). To push for this change, I would establish a non-profit making organization aimed at educating parents in urban centers about proper nutrition. The organization would also train parents how to prepare their food properly to improve the nutritional outcomes of their children. The training and education will be conducted at my offices and within the communities to ensure many people have access to the information. It is important to note that the most vulnerable population to nutritional challenges are the urban children. Marco’s inspirational video can also be used to advocate for change in the framing of food adverts so that they do not mislead urban children. The video emphasizes the value of compassion in recognizing and overcoming biases against people in recovery (Vimeo, 2019b). Recognizing the risks that vulnerable populations face requires compassion. Since the beginning of my training, I always had a soft spot for children and believed they should not pay for mistakes committed by adults. Urban children need to be guided and exposed to the correct information about nutrition and health. Because of time constraints, many parents do not enlighten their children on nutritious feeding as required. In that regard, I will also organize workshops targeting urban children where they will learn about making proper food choices. Through the workshops, children will understand the dangers of consuming processed foods and begin to embrace nutritious foods. I believe that through the education and training programs for both children and adults, I will set the foundation for transforming the urban culture.
Summary and Conclusions
In summary, urban children are most vulnerable to nutritional health challenges because of the limited food options in urban centers and the restricting urban environments. Nutritional challenges stemming from urban poverty limits access to nutritious food. Urban dwellers consume processed foods as a coping strategy to the limited access to healthy food. Processed foods are affordable, easily available and have low nutritional value. Nutritional challenges are exacerbated by the urban culture which portrays the consumption of junk or processed foods as fashionable and influences the food choices of many children. Thirdly, urban children are at greater risk of exposure to food adverts, most of which encourage the consumption of less nutritious foods. Some of the potential interventions include addressing urban poverty by investing in poor people and poor areas. The government can develop poor peoples’ skills and knowledge levels to improve their employability and capacities for entrepreneurship. The government can also stimulate urban economic development to generate more employment opportunities for the urban poor. Another intervention is raising awareness of the benefits of nutritious foods and the risks of processed foods. Lastly, the government can subsidize the production of nutritious foods to make them affordable to everybody in urban centers. At a personal level, I advocate for a change of urban culture to encourage the consumption of nutritious foods. The change can be brought about by educating urban parents on proper nutrition and training them on the preparation of nutritious meals. The change can also be brought by educating urban children to embrace nutritious food.
References
Amare, M., Arndt, C., Abay, K. A., & Benson, T. (2018). Urbanization and child nutritional outcomes. The World Bank Economic Review . https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhy015
Cassady, D. L., Liaw, K., & Miller, L. M. (2015). Disparities in obesity-related outdoor advertising by neighborhood income and race. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine , 92 (5), 835–842. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-015-9980-1
Fagerberg, P., Langlet, B., Oravsky, A., Sandborg, J., Löf, M., & Ioakimidis, I. (2019). Ultra-processed food advertisements dominate the food advertising landscape in two Stockholm areas with low vs high socioeconomic status. Is it time for regulatory action? BMC Public Health , 19 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-8090-5
Galvin, G. (2019). USNews. Retrieved April 25, 2021, from https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/slideshows/10-counties-with-highest-rates-of-child-food-insecurity?slide=11
Kimani-Murage, E. W., Muthuri, S. K., Oti, S. O., Mutua, M. K., Van de Vijver, S., & Kyobutungi, C. (2015). Evidence of a double burden of malnutrition in urban poor settings in Nairobi, Kenya. PLOS ONE , 10 (6), e0129943. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129943
Slusser, W., Prelip, M., Kinsler, J., Erausquin, J. T., Thai, C., & Neumann, C. (2011). Challenges to parent nutrition education: A qualitative study of parents of urban children attending low-income schools. Public Health Nutrition , 14 (10), 1833-1841. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980011000620
URBACT. (2019, July 3). The dilemma of fighting urban poverty: Invest into poor people or into poor places? Retrieved April 21, 2021, from https://urbact.eu/dilemma-fighting-urban-poverty
Vilar-Compte, M., Burrola-Méndez, S., Lozano-Marrufo, A., Ferré-Eguiluz, I., Flores, D., Gaitán-Rossi, P., Teruel, G., & Pérez-Escamilla, R. (2021). Urban poverty and nutrition challenges associated with accessibility to a healthy diet: A global systematic literature review. International journal for equity in health , 20 (1), 40. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-01330-0
Vimeo. (2019a). Private video on Vimeo: Sara . Vimeo | The world's only all-in-one video solution. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from https://vimeo.com/284815918
Vimeo. (2019b). Private video on Vimeo: Marco . Vimeo | The world's only all-in-one video solution. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from https://vimeo.com/user23868256/marco
