Central Brooklyn, the South Bronx and Harlem have some of New York city’s highest obesity rates, but a departmental survey found that a scarcity of low-fat milk was just one of the many obstacles to healthier eating, according to a recent report in The New York Times.

The Health and Mental Hygiene Department released the results of its survey of the availability of various healthy foods in the Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick neighbourhoods of Brooklyn. The agency found that only one in three bodegas there sold reduced-fat milk, but that nine out of ten supermarkets did. More than 80% of the 373 food stores surveyed in the two neighbourhoods were bodegas.
In an effort to provide healthier food choices and stem the tide of rising obesity, the city’s health officials have enlisted bodega owners to encourage the sale of low-fat milk. For several months, the bodegas that have signed up for the milk programme will offer customers discounts on low-fat milk and hand out fliers provided by the health department. There is no financial incentive for the bodegas to participate, but health officials say they have received a positive response.