Obesity and the Food Environment Among Minority Groups

Current Obesity Reports

Volumn 1, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 141-151

  Odoms Young, Angela M ^a   Zenk, Shannon N ^a   Karpyn, Allison ^b   Ayala, Guadalupe Xochitl ^c   Gittelsohn, Joel ^d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO   (United States)

^b Food Trust   (United States)

^c SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d JOHNS HOPKINS BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH   (United States)

Author keywords

Food environment; Minority groups; Obesity

Indexed keywords

CALORIC INTAKE; DIETARY INTAKE; DISEASE ASSOCIATION; ENERGY BALANCE; ETHNIC DIFFERENCE; FAST FOOD; FOOD AVAILABILITY; FOOD QUALITY; HUMAN; INCIDENCE; LOWEST INCOME GROUP; MINORITY GROUP; OBESITY; PREVALENCE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RACISM; REVIEW; RISK; SOCIAL STATUS; WOMEN'S HEALTH;

EID: 84888883619     PISSN: None     EISSN: 21624968     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s13679-012-0023-x     Document Type: Review

References (96)

1. Flegal Km C, Margaret D, et al. Prevalence of obesity and trends in the distribution of body mass index among US adults, 1999-2010. JAMA. 2012; 307(5): 491-7.
2. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, et al. Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999-2010. JAMA. 2012; 307(5): 483-90.
3. Ahn MK, Juon HS, Gittelsohn J. Association of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, acculturation, and environmental factors with risk of overweight among adolescents in California, 2003. Prev Chron Dis. 2008; 5(3): A75.
4. Mau MK, et al. Environmental factors of obesity in communities with native Hawaiians. Hawaii Med J. 2008; 67(9): 233-6. Comparison of fast-food outlets and exercise resources across three communities with varying percentages of Native Hawaiians (NH) and to correlate these findings with obesity prevalence. Trends in obesity prevalence paralleled the percentage of NHs. Results confirm the increased frequency of obesogenic environmental factors and their correlation with obesity trends across three distinct NH communities. These results suggest that environmental factors may offer another means for reducing obesity disparities in minority communities.
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity prevalence among low-income, preschool-aged children-United States, 1998-2008. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2009; 58(28): 769-73.
6. Swinburn BA, et al. Diet, nutrition and the prevention of excess weight gain and obesity. Public Health Nutr. 2004; 7(1A): 123-46.
7. Piernas C, Popkin BM. Food portion patterns and trends among U. S. children and the relationship to total eating occasion size, 1977-2006. J Nutr. 2011; 141(6): 1159-64.
8. Casagrande SS, Wang Y, et al. Have Americans increased their fruit and vegetable intake? the trends between 1988 and 2002. Am J Prev Med. 2007 Apr; 32(4): 257-63.
9. Swinburn B. Obesity prevention in children and adolescents. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2009; 18(1): 209-23.
10. Adler NE, Stewart J. Reducing obesity: motivating action while not blaming the victim. Milbank Q. 2009; 87(1): 49-70.
11. McEligot AJ, et al. Diet, psychosocial factors related to diet and exercise, and cardiometabolic conditions in Southern Californian Native Hawaiians. Hawaii Med J. 2010; 69(5 Suppl 2): 16-20.
12. Boone-Heinonen J, Gordon-Larsen P, et al. Obesogenic clusters: multidimensional adolescent obesity-related behaviors in the U. S. Ann Behav Med. 2008; 36(3): 217-30.
13. Oude Luttikhuis H, Baur L, et al. Interventions for treating obesity in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009 Jan 21;(1): CD001872.
14. Story M, et al. Creating healthy food and eating environments: policy and environmental approaches. Annu Rev Public Health. 2008; 29: 253-72.
15. Fitzgibbon M, Stolley MR. Environmental changes may be needed for prevention of overweight in minority children. Pediatr Ann. 2004 Jan; 33(1): 45-9.
16. Kumanyika SK. Environmental influences on childhood obesity: ethnic and cultural influences in context. Physiol Behav. 2008; 94(1): 61-70.
17. Casagrande SS, Whitt-Glover MC, et al. Built environment and health behaviors among African Americans: a systematic review. Am J Prev Med. 2009; 36(2): 174-81.
18. Larson NI, Story MT, Nelson MC. Neighborhood environments: disparities in access to healthy foods in the U. S. Am J Prev Med. 2009; 36(1): 74-81.
19. Lovasi GS, et al. Built environments and obesity in disadvantaged populations. Epidemiol Rev. 2009; 31(Journal Article): 7-20.
20. Black JL, Macinko J. Neighborhoods and obesity. Nutr Rev. 2008; 66(1): 2-20.
21. Fleischhacker SE, et al. A systematic review of fast food access studies. Obes Rev. 2011; 12(5): e460-71. Six databases were searched using terms relating to fast food. Only peer-reviewed studies published in English during a 10-year period, with data collection and analysis regarding fast-food access, were included. Forty articles met the criteria. Nearly half of the studies used their own set of features to define fast food. Studies predominantly examined the relationship between fast-food access and socioeconomic factors and 76 % indicated fast-food restaurants were more prevalent in low-income areas compared with middle- to higher-income areas. Ten of 12 studies found fast-food restaurants were more prevalent in areas with higher concentrations of ethnic minority groups compared with Caucasians. Six adult studies found higher BMI was associated with living in areas with increased exposure to fast food; four studies, however, did not find associations. Further work is needed to understand if and how fast-food access impacts dietary intake and health outcomes; and if fast-food access has disparate socioeconomic, race/ethnicity, and age associations.
22. Giskes K, van Lenthe F, et al. A systematic review of environmental factors and obesogenic dietary intakes among adults: are we getting closer to understanding obesogenic environments? Obes Rev. 2011; 12(5): e95-e106. This study examined whether physical, social, cultural, and economical environmental factors are associated with obesogenic dietary behaviors and overweight/obesity among adults. Literature searches of databases identified studies examining environmental factors and the consumption of energy, fat, fiber, fruit, vegetables, sugar-sweetened drinks, meal patterns, and weight status. Twenty-eight studies were in-scope, the majority (n = 16) were conducted in the United States. Weight status was consistently associated with the food environment; greater accessibility to supermarkets or less access to takeaway outlets was associated with a lower BMI or prevalence of overweight/obesity. However, obesogenic dietary behaviors did not mirror these associations; mixed associations were found between the environment and obesogenic dietary behaviors. Living in a socioeconomically deprived area was the only environmental factor consistently associated with a number of obesogenic dietary behaviors. Associations between the environment and weight status are more consistent than that seen between the environment and dietary behaviors.
23. Gustafson A, Hankins S, Jilcott S. Measures of the consumer food store environment: a systematic review of the evidence 2000-2011. J Community Health. 2011. Dec 10. A systematic review of primary, quantitative, observational studies, published in English that conducted an audit of the consumer food environment. The literature search included electronic, hand searches, and peer-reviewed from 2000 to 2011. Fifty-six papers met the inclusion criteria. Six studies reported stores in low-income neighborhoods or high-minority neighborhoods had less availability of healthy food, while four studies found there was no difference in availability between neighborhoods. The results were also inconsistent for differences in food prices, dietary patterns, and weight status. This systematic review uncovered several key findings: 1) systematic measurement of determining availability of food within stores and store types is needed; 2) context is relevant for understanding the complexities of the consumer food environment; 3) interventions and longitudinal studies addressing purchasing habits, diet, and obesity outcomes are needed; and 4) influences of price and marketing that may be linked with why people purchase certain items.
24. Larson N, Story M. A review of environmental influences on food choices. Ann Behav Med Publ Soc Behav Med. 2009; 38 Suppl 1(Journal Article): S56-73.
25. Morland K, Wing S, Diez Roux A. The contextual effect of the local food environment on residents' diets: the atherosclerosis risk in communities study. Am J Public Health. 2002; 92(11): 1761-7.
26. Morland K, Filomena S. Disparities in the availability of fruits and vegetables between racially segregated urban neighbourhoods. Public Health Nutr. 2007; 10(12): 1481-9.
27. Grigsby-Toussaint DS, et al. Availability of commonly consumed and culturally specific fruits and vegetables in African-American and Latino neighborhoods. J Am Diet Assoc. 2010; 110(5): 746-52. The purpose of this study was to assess the availability of commonly consumed and culturally specific fruits and vegetables in retail food stores located in majority African American and Latino neighborhoods in southwest Chicago, Illinois. Stores located in neighborhoods in which the majority of residents were African American or Latino were more likely to carry fresh fruits and vegetables that were culturally relevant to the dominant group. Most stores, however, carried fewer than 50 % of commonly consumed or culturally specific fruits and vegetables. Findings from this study highlight that limited availability of culturally specific as well as commonly consumed fruits and vegetables in the neighborhood may be a barrier to fruit and vegetable consumption among African Americans and Latinos.
28. Powell LM, Wada R, et al. Ethnic disparities in adolescent body mass index in the United States: the role of parental socioeconomic status and economic contextual factors. Soc Sci Med. 2012; 75(3): 469-76. This paper examined the importance of household and economic contextual factors as determinants of ethnic disparities in adolescent BMI. Individual-level data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 for the years 1997-2000 were combined with economic contextual data on food prices, outlet density, and median household income. Ethnic differences in household demographic, parental SES, and economic contextual factors explained the majority of the male black-white (63 %), male Hispanic-white (78 %), and female Hispanic-white (62 %) BMI gaps but less than one half of the female black-white BMI gap (44 %). Adding the economic contextual factors increased the explained portion of the ethnic BMI gap for both female and male adolescents: the economic contextual factors explained 28 % and 38 % of the black-white and Hispanic-white BMI gaps for males and 13 % and 8 % of the black-white and Hispanic-white BMI gaps for females, respectively. Parental SES was more important in explaining the Hispanic-white BMI gap than the black-white BMI gap for both genders, whereas neighborhood economic contextual factors were more important in explaining the male BMI gap than the female BMI gap for both black-white and Hispanic-white ethnic disparities. A significantly large portion of the ethnic BMI gap, however, remained unexplained between black and white female adolescents.
29. Block D, Kouba J. A comparison of the availability and affordability of a market basket in two communities in the Chicago area. Public Health Nutr. 2006; 9(7): 837-45.
30. Lee H. The role of local food availability in explaining obesity risk among young school-aged children. Soc Sci Med. 2012; 74(8): 1193-203. This paper examines whether the lack of access to more healthy food retailers and/or the greater availability of "unhealthy" food purveyors in residential neighborhoods explains children's risk of excessive weight gain, and whether differential food availability explains obesity disparities. I do so by analyzing a national survey of US children followed over elementary school (ECLS-K) who are linked to detailed, longitudinal food availability measures from a comprehensive business establishment database (the National Establishment Time Series). Children who live in residentially poor and minority neighborhoods are indeed more likely to have greater access to fast-food outlets and convenience stores. However, these neighborhoods also have greater access to other food establishments that have not been linked to increased obesity risk, including large-scale grocery stores. When examined in a multilevel modeling framework, differential exposure to food outlets does not independently explain weight gain over time in this sample of elementary school-aged children. Variation in residential food outlet availability also does not explain socioeconomic and racial/ethnic differences. It may thus be important to reconsider whether food access is, in all settings, a salient factor in understanding obesity risk among young children.
31. Leone AF, et al. Store type and demographic influence on the availability and price of healthful foods, Leon County, Florida, 2008. Prev Chron Dis. 2011; 8(6): A140.
32. Sturm R. Disparities in the food environment surrounding US middle and high schools. Public Health. 2008; 122(7): 681-90.
33. Zenk SN, et al. Fruit and vegetable access differs by community racial composition and socioeconomic position in Detroit, Michigan. Ethn Dis. 2006; 16(1): 275-80.
34. Baker EA, et al. The role of race and poverty in access to foods that enable individuals to adhere to dietary guidelines. Prev Chron Dis. 2006; 3(3): A76.
35. Powell LM, Slater S, et al. Food store availability and neighborhood characteristics in the United States. Prev Med. 2007; 44(3): 189-95.
36. Bodor JN, et al. Disparities in food access: does aggregate availability of key foods from other stores offset the relative lack of supermarkets in African-American neighborhoods? Prev Med. 2010; 51(1): 63-7. This study examined in-store shelf space of key foods to test whether other types of stores might offset the relative lack of supermarkets in African American neighborhoods. New Orleans census tract data were combined with health department information on food stores open in 2004-2005. Shelf space of fruits, vegetables, and energy-dense snacks was assessed using a measuring wheel and established protocols in a sample of stores. Neighborhood availability of foods was calculated by summing shelf space in all stores within 2 km of tract centers. Regression analyses assessed associations between tract racial composition and aggregate food availability. African American neighborhoods had fewer supermarkets and the aggregate availability of fresh fruits and vegetables was lower than in other neighborhoods. There were no differences in snack food availability.
37. Zenk SN, et al. Multilevel correlates of satisfaction with neighborhood availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. Ann Behav Med. 2009; 38(1): 48-59.
38. Morland K, Filomena S. The utilization of local food environments by urban seniors. Prev Med. 2008; 47(3): 289-93.
39. Powell LM, Chaloupka FJ, Bao Y. The availability of fast-food and full-service restaurants in the United States: associations with neighborhood characteristics. Am J Prev Med. 2007; 33(4 Suppl): S240-5.
40. Drewnowski A. Obesity, diets, and social inequalities. Nutr Rev. 2009; 67 Suppl 1(Journal Article): S36-S39.
41. Ard J, Perumean-Chaney S, et al. Fruit and vegetable pricing by demographic factors in the Birmingham, Alabama, metropolitan area, 2004-2005. Prev Chronic Dis. 2010 Jul; 7(4): A78. The purpose of the study was to determine whether neighborhood demographics were associated with prices of fruits and vegetables. Forty-four grocery stores in the Birmingham, Alabama, metropolitan area were surveyed to determine prices of 20 fruits and vegetables. Stores were geocoded and linked to the corresponding Census 2000 block group to obtain data for the independent variables: percentage African American, percentage with at least a high school diploma, and percentage of households below the poverty level. In the fall, there were no significant relationships between the predictors and prices of any fruits and vegetables in the survey. In the spring, the percentage who had at least a high school diploma was a predictor of price per serving for potatoes.
42. Dunn RA, et al. Socio-economic status, racial composition and the affordability of fresh fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods of a large rural region in Texas. Nutr J. 2011; 10: 6. Data from the Brazos Valley Food Environment Project were used to identify all food stores in the rural region and the availability and lowest price of fresh whole fruit and vegetables in the food stores. The mean cost of meeting the USDA recommendation of fruit consumption from a high-variety basket of fruit types in our sample of stores was just over $27. 50 per week. Relying on the three most common fruits lowered the weekly expense to under $17. 25 per week, a reduction of 37. 6 %. The effect of moving from a high-variety to a low-variety basket was much less when considering vegetable consumption: a 4. 3 % decline from $29. 23 to $27. 97 per week. Univariate regression analysis revealed that the cost of fresh produce was not associated with the racial/ethnic composition of the local community. However, multivariate regression showed that holding median income constant, stores in neighborhoods with higher percentages of black residents paid more for fresh fruits and vegetables. The proportion of Hispanic residents was not associated with cost in either the univariate or multivariate analysis.
43. Krukowski RA, et al. Neighborhood impact on healthy food availability and pricing in food stores. J Community Health. 2010; 35(3): 315-20.
44. Gittelsohn J, Sharma S. Physical, consumer, and social aspects of measuring the food environment among diverse low-income populations. Am J Prev Med. 2009; 36(4 Suppl): S161-5.
45. O'Connell M, Buchwald DS, Duncan GE. Food access and cost in American Indian communities in Washington State. J Am Diet Assoc. 2011; 111(9): 1375-9. This study examined the number and type of food stores (convenience, grocery, supermarket) on federal reservations in Washington State, and the availability and cost of foods in the USDA Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit market basket, to describe the food environment of American Indians. Stores were identified by telephone survey of tribal headquarters, a commercial database, and on-site visitation. Foods were assessed using a standardized instrument containing 68 items in seven major food groups. Store type and availability and cost of foods were recorded on a checklist. Fifty stores were identified on 22 American Indian reservations, including 25 convenience, 16 grocery, and 9 supermarkets. Across all stores, about 38 % of checklist items were available, with supermarkets having the most and convenience stores the fewest. Foods from the dairy and sugars/sweets groups were the most prevalent, while fresh fruits/vegetables were the least. Cost of the most commonly available items was lowest in supermarkets. Seventeen reservations did not have a supermarket on their reservation, and the nearest off-reservation supermarket was about 10 miles from the tribe's headquarters, which was used as the standard for distance calculations.
46. Galvez MP, et al. Race and food store availability in an inner-city neighbourhood. Public Health Nutr. 2008; 11(6): 624-31.
47. Powell LM, et al. Food store availability and neighborhood characteristics in the United States. Prev Med. 2007; 44(3): 189-95.
48. Moore LV, Diez Roux AV. Associations of neighborhood characteristics with the location and type of food stores. Am J Public Health. 2006; 96(2): 325-31.
49. Lisabeth LD, et al. The food environment in an urban Mexican American community. Health Place. 2010; 16(3): 598-605.
50. Hillier A, McLaughlin J, et al. The impact of WIC food package changes on access to healthful food in 2 low-income urban neighborhoods. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2012; 44(3): 210-6.
51. Emond JA, Madanat HN, Ayala GX. Do Latino and non-Latino grocery stores differ in the availability and affordability of healthy food items in a low-income, metropolitan region? Public Health Nutr. 2012; 15(2): 360-9. A cross-sectional study conducted by three independent observers to audit 25 grocery stores identified as the main source of groceries for 80 % of Latino families enrolled in a childhood obesity study. Stores were classified as supermarkets and tiendas on the basis of key characteristics. Tiendas were smaller than supermarkets. Availability of fresh produce did not differ by store type; quality differed for one fruit item. Price per unit (pound or piece) was lower in tiendas for most fresh produce. The cost of meeting the USDA's recommended weekly servings of produce based on an 2000 kcal/d diet was $US 3. 00 lower in tiendas compared with supermarkets (P < 0. 001). The cost of 1 gallon of skimmed milk was significantly higher in tiendas ($US 3. 29 vs. $US 2. 69; P = 0. 005) and lean (7 % fat) ground beef was available in only one tienda (10 %) compared with 10 (67 %) supermarkets (P = 0. 01).
52. Sheldon M, et al. Availability, affordability, and accessibility of a healthful diet in a low-income community, Central Falls, Rhode Island, 2007-2008. Prev Chron Dis. 2010; 7(2): A43.
53. Lopez-Class M, Hosler AS. Assessment of community food resources: a Latino neighborhood study in upstate New York. J Poverty. 2010; 14(4): 369-81.
54. Chaufan C, Davis M, Constantino S. The twin epidemics of poverty and diabetes: understanding diabetes disparities in a low-income Latino and immigrant neighborhood. J Community Health. 2011; 36(6): 1032-43.
55. Lee SH, Rowan MT, et al. Characteristics of prepared food sources in low-income neighborhoods of Baltimore City. Ecol Food Nutr. 2010; 49(6): 409-30.
56. Liese AD, Weis KE, et al. Food store types, availability, and cost of foods in a rural environment. J Am Diet Assoc. 2007; 107(11): 1916-23.
57. Moore LV, et al. Associations of the local food environment with diet quality-a comparison of assessments based on surveys and geographic information systems: the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Am J Epidemiol. 2008; 167(8): 917-24.
58. Morland K, Diez Roux AV, et al. Supermarkets, other food stores, and obesity: the atherosclerosis risk in communities study. Am J Prev Med. 2006; 30(4): 333-9.
59. Michimi A, Wimberly MC. Associations of supermarket accessibility with obesity and fruit and vegetable consumption in the conterminous United States. Int J Health Geogr. 2010; 9: 49.
60. Bodor J, Rose D, et al. Neighbourhood fruit and vegetable availability and consumption: the role of small food stores in an urban environment. Public Health Nutr. 2008; 11(4): 413-20.
61. Zenk S, Schulz AJ, et al. Multilevel correlates of satisfaction with neighborhood availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. Ann Behav Med. 2009; 38(1): 48-59.
62. Lucan SC, Mitra N. Perceptions of the food environment are associated with fast-food (not fruit-and-vegetable) consumption: findings from multi-level models. Int J Public Health. 2012; 57(3): 599-608.
63. Boone-Heinonen J, et al. Fast food restaurants and food stores: longitudinal associations with diet in young to middle-aged adults: the CARDIA study. Arch Intern Med. 2011; 171(13): 1162-70. Fifteen years of longitudinal data from the CARDIA study, a cohort of US young adults (aged 18-30 years at baseline) (n = 5115), with linked time-varying geographic information system-derived food resource measures. Using repeated measures from four examination periods (n = 15, 854 person-examination observations) and conditional regression (conditioned on the individual), fast-food consumption, diet quality, and adherence to fruit and vegetable recommendations were modeled as a function of fast-food chain, supermarket, or grocery store availability (counts per population) within less than 1. 00 km, 1. 00-2. 99 km, 3. 00-4. 99 km, and 5. 00-8. 05 km of respondents' homes. Models were sex-stratified, controlled for individual sociodemographic characteristics and neighborhood poverty, and tested for interaction by individual-level income. Fast-food consumption was related to fast-food availability among low-income respondents, particularly within 1. 00-2. 99 km of home among men (coefficient, 0. 34; 95 % CI, 0. 16-0. 51). Greater supermarket availability was generally unrelated to diet quality and fruit and vegetable intake, and relationships between grocery store availability and diet outcomes were mixed.
64. Zenk SN, et al. Neighborhood retail food environment and fruit and vegetable intake in a multiethnic urban population. Am J Health Promot Am J Health Promot. 2009; 23(4): 255-64.
65. Hickson DA, et al. Associations of fast food restaurant availability with dietary intake and weight among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study, 2000-2004. Am J Public Health. 2011; 101 Suppl 1: S301-9. Investigated cross-sectional associations of fast-food restaurant availability (FFR) with dietary intake and BMI and waist circumference in 4740 African American Jackson Heart Study participants (55. 2 ± 12. 6 years, 63. 3 % women). FFR availability was investigated using circular buffers with differing radii centered at each participant's geocoded residential location. We observed no consistent associations between FFR availability and BMI or waist circumference. Greater FFR availability was associated with higher energy intake among men and women younger than 55 years, even after adjusting for individual SES. For each standard deviation increase in 5-mile FFR availability, the energy intake increased by 138 kilocalories (CI = 70. 53, 204. 75) for men and 58 kilocalories (CI = 8. 55, 105. 97) for women. We observed similar associations for the 2-mile FFR availability, especially in men. FFR availability was also unexpectedly positively associated with total fiber intake.
66. An R, Sturm R. School and residential neighborhood food environment and diet among California youth. Am J Prev Med. 2012; 42(2): 129-35.
67. Ding D, et al. Community food environment, home food environment, and fruit and vegetable intake of children and adolescents. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2011 Apr 28. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with re-administration to assess test-retest reliability. Adolescents, parents of adolescents, and parents of children (n = 458) were surveyed in San Diego, Boston, and Cincinnati. Most subscales had acceptable reliability. Fruit and vegetable (FV) intake was positively associated with availability of healthful food (r = 0. 15-0. 27), FV (r = 0. 22-0. 34), and ratio of more-healthful/less-healthful food in the home (r = 0. 23-0. 31) and was negatively associated with less-healthful food in the home (r = -0. 17 to -0. 18). Home food environment was associated with household income but not with community food environment.
68. Edmonds J, et al. Ecological and socioeconomic correlates of fruit, juice, and vegetable consumption among African-American boys. Prev Med. 2001; 32(6): 476-81.
69. Powell LM, Zhao Z, Wang Y. Food prices and fruit and vegetable consumption among young American adults. Health Place. 2009; 15(4): 1064-70.
70. Powell LM, Han E, Chaloupka FJ. Economic contextual factors, food consumption, and obesity among U. S. adolescents. J Nutr. 2010; 140(6): 1175-80.
71. Powell LM, Han E. The costs of food at home and away from home and consumption patterns among U. S. adolescents. J Adolesc Health Off Publ Soc Adolesc Med. 2011; 48(1): 20-6. Individual-level data on adolescents were drawn from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics combined at the zip code level with external economic contextual data. Multivariate regression analyses were used to estimate the associations between food consumption categories and the economic contextual factors. Fast-food and food-at-home prices were not significantly associated with any of the food consumption categories in the full sample. However, among poor adolescents, higher fast-food prices were associated with higher levels of nonmeat protein consumption. Food store outlet availability was found to have very small significant associations with some food consumption categories but no significant associations were found for restaurant outlets.
72. Sturm R, Datar A. Regional price differences and food consumption frequency among elementary school children. Public Health. 2011; 125(3): 136-41.
73. Sturm R, Datar A. Body mass index in elementary school children, metropolitan area food prices and food outlet density. Public Health. 2005; 119(12): 1059-68.
74. Gordon-Larsen P, Guilkey DK, Popkin BM. An economic analysis of community-level fast food prices and individual-level fast food intake: a longitudinal study. Health Place. 2011; 17(6): 1235-41. Used nationally representative, longitudinal data to examine how community-level food price variation was associated with individual-level fast-food intake by race/ethnicity and income across waves II (1996) and III (2001-2002) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 11, 088) from 158 baseline and 363 follow-up US counties. Negative binomial regression models predicting the number of fast-food meals per week show strong relationships between fast-food consumption and prices of fast food and soda that varied by gender and race/ethnicity. We found relatively stronger association between food prices and fast-food intake for males and relatively greater price sensitivity for soda versus burgers. In the group with strongest associations (black males), a 20 % increase in the price of soda was associated with a decrease of 0. 25 visits to a fast-food restaurant per week.
75. Zick CD, et al. Running to the store? the relationship between neighborhood environments and the risk of obesity. Soc Sci Med. (1982), 2009; 69(10): 1493-1500.
76. Rundle A, et al. Neighborhood food environment and walkability predict obesity in New York City. Environ Heal Perspect. 2009; 117(3): 442-7.
77. Howard PH, Fitzpatrick M, Fulfrost B. Proximity of food retailers to schools and rates of overweight ninth grade students: an ecological study in California. BMC Public Health. 2011; 11(Journal Article): 68.
78. Morland KB, Evenson KR. Obesity prevalence and the local food environment. Health Place. 2009; 15(2): 491-5.
79. Powell LM, Auld MC, et al. Associations between access to food stores and adolescent body mass index. Am J Prev Med. 2007; 33(4 Suppl): S301-7.
80. Langellier BA, et al. The food environment and student weight status, Los Angeles County, 2008-2009. Prev Chron Dis. 2012; 2(9): E61.
81. Auchincloss AH, et al. Neighborhood health-promoting resources and obesity risk (the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis). Obes. 2012 Apr 19. This study hypothesized that environmental resources supporting walking and a healthy diet are associated with reduced obesity incidence. Data came from 4008 adults aged 45-84 years at baseline who participated in a neighborhood ancillary study of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Participants were enrolled at six study sites at baseline (2000-2002) and neighborhood scales were derived from a supplementary survey that asked community residents to rate availability of healthy foods and walking environments for a 1-mile buffer area. Associations between incident obesity and neighborhood exposure were examined using proportional hazards and generalized linear regression. Among 4008 non-obese participants, 406 new obesity cases occurred during 5 years of follow-up. Neighborhood healthy food environment was associated with 10% lower obesity incidence per standard deviation increase neighborhood score. The association persisted after adjusting for baseline BMI and individual-level covariates and for correlated features of the walking environment but confidence intervals widened to include the null. Associations between neighborhood walking environment and lower obesity were weaker and did not persist after adjusting for correlated neighborhood healthy eating amenities.
82. Gittelsohn J, Rowan M. Preventing diabetes and obesity in American Indian communities: the potential of environmental interventions. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011; 93(5): 1179S-83S. Experiences and findings from three case studies of intervention trials in American Indian communities was examined including: the Pathways trial, which was a school-based trial that focused on children; the Apache Healthy Stores program, which was a food-store program that focused on food preparers and shoppers; and the Zhiwaapenewin Akino'maagewin trial, which was a multi-institutional trial for First Nations adults that worked with food stores, elementary schools, and health and social services agencies. All three trials showed mixed success.
83. Beaulac J, Kristjansson E, Cummins S. A systematic review of food deserts, 1966-2007. Prev Chron Dis. 2009; 6(3): A105.
84. Kerr J, et al. Predictors of trips to food desintations. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012; 9(1): 58.
85. Zenk S, Schulz AJ, et al. Activity space environment and dietary and physical activity behaviors: a pilot study. Health Place. 2011; 17(5): 1150-61. This study examined relationships among individual demographics, environmental features (e. g., fast-food outlet density, park land use) of residential neighborhoods and activity spaces, and weight-related behaviors (diet, physical activity). Participants' movement was tracked for 7 days using global positioning systems (GPS). Two activity space measures (one standard deviation ellipse, daily path area) were derived from the GPS data. Activity spaces were generally larger than residential neighborhoods; environmental features of residential neighborhoods and activity spaces were weakly associated; and some activity space environmental features were related to dietary behaviors. Activity spaces may provide new insights into environmental influences on obesity-related behaviors.
86. Richardson AS, Boone-Heinonen J, et al. Are neighbourhood food resources distributed inequitably by income and race in the USA? epidemiological findings across the urban spectrum. BMJ Open. 2012; 2(2): 698. Using a national sample, the authors examined differences in neighborhood food resource availability according to neighborhood-level poverty and racial/ethnic population in non-urban, low-density urban, and high-density urban areas. Using neighborhood characteristics of participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Wave III, 2001-2002; n = 13 995 young adults aged 18-28 years representing 7588 US block groups), the authors examined associations between neighborhood poverty and race/ethnicity with neighborhood food resource availability in urbanicity-stratified multivariable linear regression. Neighborhood race and income disparities were most pronounced in low-density urban areas, where high-poverty/high-minority areas had lower availability of grocery/supermarkets and convenience stores and greater availability of fast-food restaurants than low-poverty/low-minority areas. However, in high-density urban areas, high-poverty/low-minority neighborhoods had comparatively greater availability of grocery/supermarkets, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants relative to low-poverty/low-minority areas.
87. Ford PB, Dzewaltowski DA. Neighborhood deprivation, supermarket availability, and BMI in low-income women: a multilevel analysis. J Community Health. 2011; 36(5): 785-96.
88. Williams LK, Thornton L, et al. Is the objective food environment associated with perceptions of the food environment? Public Health Nutr. 2012; 15(2): 291-8.
89. Jilcott SB, et al. Examining associations among obesity and per capita farmers' markets, grocery stores/supermarkets, and supercenters in US counties. J Am Diet Assoc. 2011; 111(4): 567-72.
90. Tester JM, Yen IH, Laraia B. Mobile food vending and the after-school food environment. Am J Prev Med. 2010; 38(1): 70-3.
91. Broda C, Leibtag E, Weinstein DE. The role of prices in measuring the poor's living standards. J Econ Perspect. 2009; 23(2): 77-97.
92. Sharkey JR, Horel S, Dean WR. Neighborhood deprivation, vehicle ownership, and potential spatial access to a variety of fruits and vegetables in a large rural area in Texas. Int J Heal Geogr. 2010; 9: 26.
93. Sharkey JR, Dean WR, Johnson CM. Use of vendedores (mobile food vendors), pulgas (flea markets), and vecinos o amigos (neighbors or friends) as alternative sources of food for purchase among Mexican-origin households in Texas border colonias. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2012; 112(5): 705-10.
94. Kant AK, Graubard BI. Eating out in America, 1987-2000: trends and nutritional correlates. Prev Med. 2004; 38(2): 243-9.
95. Bodor JN, Rice JC, et al. The association between obesity and urban food environments. J Urban Health. 2010; 87(5): 771-81.
96. Rose D, et al. Neighborhood food environments and Body Mass Index: the importance of in-store contents. Am J Prev Med. 2009; 37(3): 214-9.