Table 3 The associations between the food environment and dietary intake in studies using GIS-based measures to capture community food environment exposure
From: The community and consumer food environment and children’s diet: a systematic review
Author (Year) | Sample size (n) | Specific exposure reported | FF outcome | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jago et al. [27] | 204 | Distance to food outlets from home and density of food outlets within a 1 mile radius of participant home | Fruit (17 types), 100% juice (4 types) and vegetable (17 types) consumption | - Distance to the nearest small food store was positively associated with fruit and juice consumption (z = 3.07, p = 0.002). |
- Distance to the nearest FF restaurant was negatively associated with fruit and juice consumption (z = −2.76, p = 0.006). | ||||
Mushi-Brunt et al. [66] | 797 | Grocery store density within census tract and distance to grocery store | Daily FV intake | There were no statistically significant associations between number of grocery stores and distance to grocery store and mean number of FV servings. However, children in low poverty NBHs (where more grocery stores were available and closer to one’s home) ate more FV per day than children in high poverty NBHs. |
Timperio et al. [40] | 5-6: 340 10–12: 461 | Availability of five types of food outlets within 800 m of home and distance to the closet food outlet | Weekly fruit (14 types) and vegetable (13 types) consumption | - The more FF outlets (OR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.67-0.99) and convenience stores (OR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.73-0.98) close to home, the lower the likelihood of consuming fruit > = 2 times/day. |
- An inverse association between density of convenience stores and the likelihood of consuming vegetables > = 3 times/day (OR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.74-0.95). | ||||
- The likelihood of consuming vegetables > = 3 times/day was greater the farther children lived from a supermarket (OR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.07-1.51) or FF outlet (OR = 1.19, 95% CI 1.06-1.35). | ||||
Fraser et al. [23] | 4827 | FF accessibility score using 1000 m buffer from home | FF consumption | Accessibility of FF outlets and consumption varied with space. In rural areas increased accessibility was associated with increased consumption, while in some urban areas increased accessibility was associated with lack of consumption (data not shown). |
He et al. [25] | 810 | Junk food density within 1 km of home and school; distance from home and school to closest FF restaurant and convenience store | Food purchasing behavior (FF and convenience store) | - Close proximity (<1 km) to the nearest FF outlet (OR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.1), convenience store (OR = 2.5, 95% CI 1.5-3.6) in the home NBH increased the likelihood of purchasing from these food locations at least once per week by adolescents (p<0.05). |
- High density of FF outlets within 1 km buffer of the school (OR = 1.4, 95% CI 1.1-1.7) and home (OR = 1.6, 95% CI 1.1-2.3) associated with increased purchasing of FF by adolescents. | ||||
Pabayo et al. [35] | 2,114 | Food outlet availability within 1 km of home | Beverage intake (the number of servings for each beverage - soft drinks, fruit juice, milk and water - over an average day or over an average week) | - Living within 1 km of a grocery store, children were less likely to consume regular soft drinks (children who had 1–3 grocery stores RR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.73-0.96); children who had > = 4 grocery stores RR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.42-0.98). |
Timperio et al. [41] | 5-6: 343 10–12: 463 | Distance from home to closest outlet, density and availability of FF/takeaway within 800 m of home and school | Weekly consumption of FF/takeaway | - Only density of stores close to home was associated with consuming takeaway/FF at least once weekly (OR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-1.00). |
- No associations between availability en route to school and likelihood of consuming takeaway/FF at least once weekly. | ||||
- No association between distance to closet food outlet and consumption of FF/takeaway. | ||||
An et al. [18] | 5-11: 8226 | Food outlet counts and density at several distances (varying from 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 to 1.5 miles) from a respondent’s home and school | Daily consumption of FV, 100% juice, milk, soft drinks, high sugar foods and FF | - No robust relationship found between food environment and consumption (a few significant results were sensitive to small modeling changes and more likely to reflect chance than true relationships). |
12-17: 5236 | ||||
He et al. [24] | 810 | Junk food density within 1km of home and school; distance from home and school to closest FF restaurant and convenience store | Overall diet quality – Healthy Eating Index | - Healthy Eating Index (HEI) higher for those living further than 1km from the closest convenience store (p<0.01), and attending a school further than 1km from convenience (p<0.01) or FF locations (p<0.05). |
- Schools with 3 or more FF outlets within 1km had lower HEI scores than those with none in surrounding area (p<0.05). | ||||
Jennings et al. [28] | 1,669 | Food outlet (BMI-healthy and unhealthy) availability within 800 m of home | Food group intake (food and drink diary) | Unhealthy food intake (fizzy drinks 15.3%, p = 0.04 and noncarbonated fruit drinks 11.8%, p = 0.03) were associated with availability of BMI-unhealthy food outlets. |
Lamichhane et al. [30] | 359 | Accessibility and availability of supermarkets (4 and 6 miles) and FF (1 mile) to home | The overall dietary intake quality composed of 8 food groups: grains, vegetables, fruit, dairy, meat, nut/seeds/legumes, fats/oils, sweets (DASH adherence score) and food groups | - The DASH adherence score significantly decreased by 0.29 for every mile increase in distance to the nearest supermarket (95% CI −0.57 - −0.02) and by 0.30 for every mile increase to 3 nearest supermarkets (95% CI − 0.59 - −0.008). |
- The DASH score significantly increased for each additional supermarket/square mile (estimate difference= 5.25, 95% CI 0.51-9.98). | ||||
- None of the FF outlets accessibility/availability measures were significantly associated with the DASH score. | ||||
- Intake of FV and low fat dairy significantly decreased as an individual resided at greater distance from the 3 nearest supermarkets (fruit: estimated difference: −0.06, 95% CI −0.12 - −0.003; vegetables: estimated difference: −0.03, 95% CI −0.08 - −0.01; low-fat dairy: estimated difference: −0.04, 95% CI −0.07 - −0.01). | ||||
- Intake of low fat dairy increased, and meat and sweets decreased as an individual resided a greater distance from the 3 nearest FF outlets (low-fat dairy: estimated: 0.03, 95% CI 0.01-0.06; meat: estimated difference: −0.04, 95% CI −0.08- −0.01; sweets: estimated difference: −0.04, 95% CI −0.08 - −0.003). | ||||
Laska et al. [31] | 349 | Distance and density of all food outlets to home and school (800, 1600 and 3000 m buffer zones) | Food group intake | - SSB intake was negatively associated with distance from home to the nearest restaurant (beta=−0.007, 95% CI −0.01 - −0.003) or grocery store (beta=−0.005, 95% CI −0.01 - −0.001) with greater distance associated with less consumption. |
- SSB consumption was positively associated with food outlet density across a wide range of measures, including having at least one FF restaurant, restaurant of any kind, convenience store, grocery store or any retail facility within a 1600 m residential network buffer, and presence of a restaurant within 800 m. School level association: - There was no significant association (p>0.1) between energy, dietary fat, FV, vegetables alone or FF and convenience store purchasing and GIS variables. | ||||
Skidmore et al. [37] | 2064 | Distance to nearest food outlet, density/km2 of food outlets within 800 m buffer zone of a child’s home | Food choices (consisted of 15 common foods) | - Both distance and density of local food outlets were associated with food intake in children. - Living further away from a supermarket increased portions of fruit (0.11 portions/week/km increase, p<0.05) and vegetables (0.11 portion/week, p<0.05) consumed - Living closer to convenience stores was also associated with an increased consumption of potato chips, chocolate and white bread. - Density of supermarkets was associated with both an increase in vegetable intake (0.31 portions/week, p<0.05) and unhealthy foods. |
Buck et al. [19] | 384 | Unhealthy food supply around schools calculated using number of stores and restaurants divided by number of residents per 1.5 km school service area | Junk food and simple sugar food consumption per week | Unhealthy food supply was not significantly clustered around schools. |
Davis & Carpenter [20] | <50,000 | Proximity and distance of FF to school, density of FF restaurants within a half-mile radius of the youth’s school | Soft drinks FV, juice, fried potato consumption in past 24 hrs | Students with FF restaurants near their school consumed fewer vegetables (beta= −0.02, 95% CI −0.03 - 0.00) or fruit (beta= −0.02, 95% CI −0.04 - 0.00) or juice (beta=−0.02, 95% CI −0.03 - 0.00) and more servings of soda (AOR= 1.05, 95% CI 1.00-1.11). |
Smith et al. [38] | 2001: 1382 2005: 524 | Density of food outlets within 400 and 800 m network distance from school | Healthy and unhealthy diet scores calculated – daily value | - Positive relationships between distances travelled to grocers within 800m and healthy diet scores (0.003, 95% CI 0.001-0.006) |
- Significant negative relationship between proximity to takeaways and unhealthy diet scores. | ||||
- No statistically significant relationship between count of food outlets and diet scores. |