Jessica Caporuscio focuses her 2020 article on food deserts and how they impact human health. Caporuscio (2020) quotes the United States Department of Agriculture, defining a food desert as an area with either a poverty rate “greater than or equal to 20% or a median family income not exceeding 80% of the median family income in urban areas, or 80% of the statewide median family income in nonurban areas” and to “qualify” as a food desert “at least 500 people or 33% of the population must live more than 1 mile from the nearest large grocery store (in urban areas) or at least 500 people or 33% of the population must live more than 10 miles from the nearest large grocery store (in rural areas)”. Caporuscio (2020) states how the USDA identified around 6,500 food deserts in 2006, and acknowledges that number could be underestimating. While Caporuscio (2020) acknowledges that experts have not reached a solid consensus on the characteristics of the populations affected by food deserts, areas with “very large or very sparse populations, low income, high levels of unemployment, inadequate access to transportation, and a low number of food retailers providing fresh produce at affordable prices”(Caporuscio, 2020) put them at greater risk of being food deserts. These characteristics make people more reliant on unhealthy fast food and gas station snacks, which starves them of the nutrients needed to maintain a healthy diet, which then leads to higher obesity rates, an increased prevalence of diabetes, and other weight-related conditions (Caporuscio, 2020). Because these health risks are a result of people's situations and usually out of their control,  Caporuscio (2020) recognizes that policy makers and Community Food Projects have to work together to improve healthy food security and access.

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