Review of the USDA “Food Atlas”

The US Department of Agriculture has launched a new website called “Your Food Environment Atlas” that provides users with the ability to map a number of USDA statistics.  It’s an excellent way to visualize some of the data.

According to the site,

The Atlas assembles statistics on three broad categories of food environment factors:

• Food Choices—Indicators of the community’s access to and acquisition of healthy, affordable food, such as: access and proximity to a grocery store; number of foodstores and restaurants; expenditures on fast foods; food and nutrition assistance program participation; quantities of foods eaten; food prices; food taxes; and availability of local foods
• Health and Well-Being—Indicators of the community’s success in maintaining healthy diets, such as: food insecurity; diabetes and obesity rates; and physical activity levels
• Community Characteristics—Indicators of community characteristics that might influence the food environment, such as: demographic composition; income and poverty; population loss; metro-nonmetro status; natural amenities; and recreation and fitness centers

The Atlas currently includes 90 indicators of the food environment. The year and geographic level of the indicators vary to better accommodate data from a variety of sources. Some data are from the last Census of Population in 2000 while others are as recent as 2009. Some are at the county level while others are at the State or regional level. The most recent county-level data are used whenever possible.

So what can you do with this?  Well, it’s kind of neat to pay around with the maps to see where your community rates compared to the rest of your state, or even compared to other states.

For example, when I map out the Adult Obesity Rate, I can quickly see that my friends in Mississippi and Alabama don’t fare too well with significant portions of both states having obesity rates as high as 35-43% of the population.

Click on the Adult Diabetes rate, and you get pretty much the same distribution:  MS and AL lead the country.  If I look at “Gal per capita of soft drinks,” the same states show up along with TN and KY.

The maps also tell me that only 60% of adults in MS, AL, TN, and KY are meeting the activity guidelines for adults, the lowest statistical category listed.

Are you getting the picture?  The data creates a pretty clear link between a lack of physical activity and too much junk food with adult obesity and diabetes.  You can also throw in poverty rates, median household incomes, as well as a number of other interesting statistics.

But is it Useful?

Although I had fun clicking on the various statistics and seeing how the map changed, I really don’t see myself ever going back to the site.  The site seems to be designed more for people involved with developing or monitoring state-wide or national government policies instead of the average individual trying to figure out how to make better food choices.

Still, I’m a sucker for technology so I just had to give it a whirl!  Try it for yourself at the USDA Food Atlas.

Hiram
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: usda, food, atlas, map, statistical, statistics, data

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