Using the resources provided and your ability to research, answer the following questions:

What are food deserts? 

What are food swamps? 

How do food deserts and food swamps contribute to the common health problems explored earlier in this course?

How do food deserts and food swamps contribute to health inequality in this country? 

Dr. Tim Wu talked about the "built environment of attention," or how our behaviors and attitudes are constrained by the content and media that are presented and available to us for consumption. How do food deserts and food swamps relate back to Dr. Wu's ideas?

What types of barriers would prevent someone who lives in a food desert or food swamp from traveling to an area with better access to nutritious food sources? 

What initiatives are currently being explored or implemented now to remedy the situation and bring better food options to those who live in food deserts and food swamps? 

What surprised you about these findings? 

Answer:

Food deserts are areas or communities where there is little access to affordable nutritious food because the people in the community cannot afford, thus their nutrition is inadequate.

Food swamps are places or areas where unhealthy foods outnumber healthy food options, unhealthy food options would include fast food chains, liquor stores, areas which sell a lot of junk food. Compared to healthy nutritious foods such as fresh meat, fruits and vegetables.

Both food deserts and food swamps contribute to malnutrition, this may be both under and over nutrition. As in food deserts, the people may not have the adequate calories, vitamons, nor minerals therefore they may have under nutrition and have problems that arise such as marasmus or kwashiokor. Food swamps on the other hand allow people to have over nutrition or in the laymans term obese/fat. This problem allows the common comorbidities such as High blood pressure and diabetes.

They both contribute to health inequality because they aren't given the option to live a healthy lifestyle. This kind of problem allows the rich to live healthy and the poor to eat whatever they need to live. In almost all cases, healthy food is more expensive than fast food, which when you have a shortage of cash, shouldn't be a hard choice to make as you try to make ends meet.

This is important in advertising i believe as what is always seen in the communities now are fast food chains left and right, bringing down their prices so more people can eat. These media outlets or advertisements would slowly put the seeds into people minds that they need to eat at these unhealthy places because it is cheaper, or it is the only option.

Right now, with the economy in shambles, it is hard to relocate to areas away from food deserts and swamps. Household prices are also more expensive away from these areas, so social welfare and job security is also an important barrier.

Right now, changing the people's mindset on fast food by spreading good and trustworthy information is key. A lot of people are already starting to switch to healthy sustainable food. The government should also try to subsidize and help these healthy companies so that the poor can get a hold and access these kinds of food, as the saying goes health is wealth, when we allow people access to healthy food, they will be healthy enough to work and improve the economy.