| Native American populations are disproportionately affected by obesity and its associated chronic diseases. Rural areas are also disproportionately affected by obesity and face significant challenges related to their food environment, food security, and food availability. The combination of these barriers make it challenging for rural, NA reservations to combat these health disparities and have opportunities to make healthy food choices. The lack of access to healthy and traditional foods in these areas is of great concern. The purpose of this study is to determine the food availability, including traditional foods, in grocery and convenience stores in six high obese counties in South Dakota, including Native American reservations.;We assessed the rural food environments by utilizing the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey for Stores (NEMS-S) tool to measure the availability of foods, including traditional foods. A selection of one community per county was examined using an observational study of grocery and convenience stores (9 convenience, 6 grocery). We found significant differences in the availability of food for both grocery and convenience stores and also found a limited amount of traditional foods available in these stores. In order to promote and recommend a well-balanced diet, these communities need to have healthy foods that are accessible, affordable, and available for purchase. |
