Last month, “Science of the City” explored the unique reasons why Greater Hyattsville can support so many healthy food outlets, despite more than 50% of the county being classified as a “food desert.” This month we explore the controversy over how living in a food desert, which lacks healthy food, or a “food swamp,” which offers too much junk food, may contribute to so many county residents becoming overweight.
During October 2025, local activists won a pitched battle against a major corporation’s plan to build a new facility on Ager Road in Lewidale, near the intersection of Riggs Road and East-West Highway. They won partly by convincing members of the county council and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission that the franchise posed a threat to the community’s health and safety.
Given the intensity of the opposition, you might expect that the company had proposed building a coal-fired power plant or a waste incinerator, but the fight was actually over a McDonald’s. One of the local activist group’s arguments against another McDonald’s outpost was that there were already 14 of them within an approximately 5-mile radius. The group contended that the restaurant would be selling unhealthy food in an area that lacks access to healthy food.
The assertion that the area lacks access to healthy food is questionable. The same radius is home to 19 Giant or Safeways supermarkets, in addition to numerous smaller grocery stores. Nevertheless, the battle reflected an important and confusing question that the county has been discussing for more than a decade: Why are more than 70% of Prince George’s County residents overweight, a problem which then contributes to high rates of diet-related illnesses, such as diabetes and hypertension? Nearly 14% of county residents have diabetes, which is higher than state and national averages.
One theory is that most county residents live in food deserts, where it is hard to find fresh fruits, vegetables and other ingredients to make a healthy meal. The 2015 report “Healthy food for all Prince Georgians” concluded, “County residents are having difficulty accessing quality nutritious, affordable and culturally appropriate food within a reasonable distance from where they live.” It also stated, “It is not the lack of supermarkets but the spatial distribution of them and the quality and price of products they carry that create inequity in accessing healthy food.”
However, the idea that simply not having a supermarket nearby forces people to eat unhealthy food can’t explain the county’s obesity problem. It is true that people living in food deserts tend to have lower incomes and eat fewer fruits and vegetables than do people with higher incomes. However, there is also some evidence that this nutritional gap is partly due to differences in what richer and poorer people choose to eat.
One study concluded that the mere fact of living in a food desert has only a small impact on eating habits. A 2017 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper noted, “Exposing low-income households to the same products and prices as those in high-income households reduces nutritional inequality by only 9%, while the remaining 91% of the nutrition gap is driven by differences in what shoppers prefer to buy.”
African Americans and Hispanics, as well as poorer and less educated people of all races, are more likely to choose foods higher in saturated fat, sugar and salt, according to the working paper. One of the working paper’s authors, Jean-Pierre Dubé, noted, “Food knowledge and education seem to explain a big chunk of the preferences for what people buy when they shop for groceries. If you are educated about the long-term benefits of nutrition, it could affect your shopping behavior.”
However, focusing on knowledge and education discounts the impact that culture, trauma, advertising and stress have on eating behavior. It also ignores the fact that some groups are disproportionately targeted by a food industry that deliberately engineers foods with combinations of sugar, salt and fat that are so addictive that “no one can eat just one.”
In an email to the Life & Times, Emmeline Edwards, a neuroscientist and researcher at Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute of Health wrote, “When these elements [sugar, salt and fat] are combined, your brain’s natural fullness cues are actually bypassed, which means you may end up eating much more before you feel satisfied. Salt doesn’t just make food tastier — it also masks your natural sensitivity to fat, leading to passive overconsumption.” Edwards also asserts that because most Black and Hispanic folks are under more stress than most Whites and Asians, they produce more cortisol and other stress hormones that make them crave even more fat, sugar and salt.
A 2017 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health article entitled “Food swamps predict obesity rates better than food deserts in the United States” may provide the best explanation of our county’s situation. Food swamps may have supermarkets, but they also have a higher proportion of establishments selling high-calorie fast food and junk food. The article also notes that 10 out of the 12 studies reviewed “provided evidence that fast-food restaurants are more likely to locate in areas where there are higher concentrations of ethnic minorities than Whites.” This may help explain the fierce opposition to the McDonald’s on Ager Road.
One reason Americans of all backgrounds are gaining weight is because we’re constantly bombarded by advertisements, billboards and other cues to consume more and more unhealthy foods. Even supermarkets, which are the healthiest source of foods, strategically place cookies and candy in the busiest locations.
For more than a decade, the county has responded to its weight problem with a number of reports and initiatives, such as encouraging urban agriculture and farmers markets, to involve more residents in growing — and, hopefully, eating — more fresh fruits and vegetables. In 2017, it passed an ordinance requiring vending machines on county government property, including schools and libraries, to increase their percentage of healthier offerings.
However, the problem is getting worse, and the state and county could accomplish so much more. Maryland could institute a statewide tax on sugar in sodas and other drinks. The county could use its zoning authority to limit the number and concentration of fast-food outlets, similar to how it regulates liquor licenses. Howard County’s “Unsweetened” campaign led to a 30% drop in the sales of sodas and other sugary drinks. What a great example for us to follow.
Paul Ruffins is a citizen scientist and a professor of curiosity.