Carmina Gomez

Major and Classification

Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Faculty Mentor

Genevieve Dunton, Ph.D.

Department

Keck School of Medicine

McNair Project

“The Effects of Farmers’ Markets on Fruit and Vegetable Intake Amongst Low Income Latino Families”

Project Abstract

Farmers’ markets have been implemented as a strategy to make healthy food more accessible in urban communities. In these communities there is a high density of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores, which limit access to healthy foods and increase obesity rates, especially in Latinos. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of local farmers’ markets (FM) relates to fruit and vegetable (FV) intake amongst low-income Latino families in South Los Angeles. Additionally, this study identified factors that influence Latinos’ use of FM and how they perceive FM in their community. In order to achieve this purpose, 50 low-income Latino families from two FM in South Los Angeles were surveyed. Bivariate correlations were used to determine the relationship between FM use and FV intake. The frequency in which Latino families used FM each month was not significantly related to their daily FV intake (r=.255, p= .077). Using logistic regression, we found that for every 1 month increase in which Latinos attended FM, there was a 0.002 decrease in FV intake (B=-0.002, p=0.03). However, when asked to compare their FV intake before and after using FM, 93% of participants reported feeling that FM helped them eat more FVs. Although more research with a larger sample is needed to confirm these results, this study has the potential to inform public policy regarding the effects of FM in low-income Latino communities to help reduce obesity rates and increase FV intake.