STUDY FINDS - Walk into almost any dollar store in America and the shelves usually tell a similar story: rows of shelf-stable snacks, sodium-heavy canned goods, and very little fresh fruit, vegetables, or lean protein. For Americans stretching grocery budgets, dollar stores have become an increasingly important food source, particularly in lower-income communities and places with fewer traditional grocery options. A sweeping new study suggests reliance on those stores may carry a hidden cost.
Researchers examined data covering more than 76 million people across over 50 major metro areas and found living near dollar stores was consistently linked to higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Living near traditional grocery stores was associated with lower rates of those same conditions. Those links held up even after researchers adjusted for a broad index of neighborhood economic hardship, including income, vehicle access, and unemployment, so the pattern is not simply a byproduct of those factors.