Open Collections

Zhao, Bill

University of British Columbia

Background: Multiple factors shape dietary intake. One potential factor is the availability of various food outlets within a locality, which constitutes the food environment. Previous studies in Canada have primarily been descriptive, focused on characterizing food outlets in a given regional food environment. There has been limited exploration of the potential association between food outlets with individual dietary intake. This study aims to characterize neighbourhood food environments of participants living across British Columbia (BC), and to investigate how the food environment is associated with consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV). Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from the BC Generations Project linked to geospatial measures of the food environment (Can-FED) and neighbourhood environment (CANUE). Five food environment measures were categorized by density, with class 0 representing no presence and class 4 the highest density. Descriptive analysis examined the distribution of residents across classification levels, while cross-tabulation explored relationships between measures. Multivariable mixed-effect models assessed associations, using linear models for daily FV consumption and logistic models for the odds of meeting FV recommendations (≥5 servings/day). Results: Around 50% of BC residents lived in neighbourhoods without direct access to grocery stores, fast food outlets, or convenience stores within walking distance. No significant differences in FV consumption were observed across density levels. Logistic models showed inverse associations between neighbourhoods with the highest density of fast food restaurants and FV consumption (OR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.80–0.94). Class 2 density of grocery stores (OR=0.86, 95% CI: 0.75–0.97) and convenience stores (OR=0.92, 95% CI: 0.84–0.99) were also associated with lower FV consumption. These associations remained significant after adjusting for neighbourhood characteristics, except for convenience stores. Conclusion: Participants living in neighbourhoods with higher densities of fast food restaurants were less likely to consume ≥5 servings of FV per day. Other retail food environments showed no consistent associations with FV consumption.

Text

2024-11-19

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89676

Population and Public Health

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/