Obesogenic neighbourhoods: the impact of neighbourhood restaurants and convenience stores on adolescents’ food consumption behaviours

TLDR

The study investigates how the neighbourhood food environment relates to adolescents’ dietary intake. Using a cross‑sectional design, GIS mapping of food outlets and socio‑economic status, a modified Healthy Eating Index, and generalized linear models, the authors assessed 810 Grade 7–8 students in a mid‑sized Ontario city. Students in neighbourhoods with lower land‑use diversity, closer proximity to convenience stores, and higher density of fast‑food outlets had lower Healthy Eating Index scores.

Abstract

Abstract Objective To examine the relationship between the neighbourhood food environment and dietary intake among adolescents. Design Cross-sectional design using: (i) a geographic information system to assess characteristics of the neighbourhood food environment and neighbourhood socio-economic status; (ii) the modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI) to assess participants’ overall diet quality; and (iii) generalized linear models to examine associations between HEI and home and school food environmental correlates. Setting Mid-sized Canadian city in Ontario, Canada. Participants Grade 7 and 8 students ( n 810) at twenty-one elementary schools. Results Students living in neighbourhoods with a lower diversity of land-use types, compared with their higher diversity counterparts, had higher HEI scores ( P < 0·05). Students with more than 1 km between their home and the nearest convenience store had higher HEI scores than those living within 1 km ( P < 0·01). Students attending schools with a distance further than 1 km from the nearest convenience store ( P < 0·01) and fast-food outlet ( P < 0·05) had higher HEI scores than those within 1 km. Those attending schools with three or more fast-food outlets within 1 km had lower HEI scores than those attending schools with no fast-food outlet in the school surroundings ( P < 0·05). Conclusions Close proximity to convenience stores in adolescents’ home environments is associated with low HEI scores. Within adolescents’ school environments, close proximity to convenience and fast-food outlets and a high density of fast-food outlets are associated with low HEI scores.