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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Life-Course Epidemiology and Social Inequalities in Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1505462
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring Health Disparities in Black Communities: Historical Perspectives, Present Challenges, and Future Directions View all 3 articles

Connections Between Redlining, Food Access, Hypertension, Diabetes, & Obesity in Boston

Provisionally accepted
Farhad Mehrtash Farhad Mehrtash *
  • School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This paper explores how redlining has disproportionately impacted the Boston neighborhoods of Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan. Initiated in the 1930s, the discriminatory practice of marking these neighborhoods as high-risk for lending has led to significant health inequities today. The paper focuses on how limited access to healthier foods in these areas contributes to a higher prevalence of chronic diseases such as hypertension and obesity, compared to wealthier neighborhoods. Additionally, the paper examines interventions aimed at reducing health disparities by improving affordability and access to nutritious foods. The findings underscore the need for comprehensive policies and interventions with community-based involvement to address food insecurity and health disparities that originated from redlining in Boston.

    Keywords: Food insecurity, Hypertension, diabetes, Health Disparities, food policy

    Received: 02 Oct 2024; Accepted: 17 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Mehrtash. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Farhad Mehrtash, School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.