Characterizing the food environment: pitfalls and future directions
- 10 April 2013
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Public Health Nutrition
- Vol. 16 (7), 1238-1243
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980013000773
Abstract
Objective: To assess a county population's exposure to different types of food sources reported to affect both diet quality and obesity rates.Design: Food permit records obtained from the local health department served to establish the full census of food stores and restaurants. Employing prior categorization schemes which classified the relative healthfulness of food sources based on establishment type (i.e. supermarketsv.convenience stores, or full-servicev.fast-food restaurants), food establishments were assigned to the healthy, unhealthy or undetermined groups.Setting: King County, WA, USA.Subjects: Full census of food sources.Results: According to all categorization schemes, most food establishments in King County fell into the unhealthy and undetermined groups. Use of the food permit data showed that large stores, which included supermarkets as healthy food establishments, contained a sizeable number of bakery/delis, fish/meat, ethnic and standard quick-service restaurants and coffee shops, all food sources that, when housed in a separate venue or owned by a different business establishment, were classified as either unhealthy or of undetermined value to health.Conclusions: To fully assess the potential health effects of exposure to the extant food environment, future research would need to establish the health value of foods in many such common establishments as individually owned grocery stores and ethnic food stores and restaurants. Within-venue exposure to foods should also be investigated.Keywords
This publication has 50 references indexed in Scilit:
- Classification bias in commercial business lists for retail food stores in the U.S.International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2012
- Fast Food Restaurants and Food StoresArchives of Internal Medicine, 2011
- Association between proximity to and coverage of traditional fast-food restaurants and non-traditional fast-food outlets and fast-food consumption among rural adultsInternational Journal of Health Geographics, 2011
- The Association between Obesity and Urban Food EnvironmentsJournal of Urban Health, 2010
- Measuring the Food Environment: State of the ScienceAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2009
- Association between neighborhood need and spatial access to food stores and fast food restaurants in neighborhoods of ColoniasInternational Journal of Health Geographics, 2009
- Impact of the food environment and physical activity environment on behaviors and weight status in rural U.S. communitiesPreventive Medicine, 2008
- Disparities in the food environment surrounding US middle and high schoolsPublic Health, 2008
- The Neighborhood Food Resource Environment and the Health of Residents with Chronic ConditionsJournal of General Internal Medicine, 2008
- Socioeconomic and food-related physical characteristics of the neighbourhood environment are associated with body mass indexJournal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2007