A possible dose–response association between distance to farmers’ markets and roadside produce stands, frequency of shopping, fruit and vegetable consumption, and body mass index among customers in the Southern United States

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Qiang Wu¹  Jared T. McGuirt²  Ann P. Rafferty³  Lisa Phillips³  Mary Jane Lyonnais³  Nancy Winterbauer³  Stephanie B. Jilcott Pitts³  Olivia R. Whitt³  Jedediah Hinkley⁴ 

[1] Department of Biostatistics, East Carolina University, 2435D Health Sciences Building, 27834, Greenville, NC, USA;Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599, Chapel Hill, NC, USA;Department of Public Health, Brody School of Medicine East Carolina University, 600 Moye Blvd, MS 660, Lakeside Annex 7, 27834, Greenville, NC, USA;Healthy Foods Coordinator Partnerships to Improve Community Health, Albemarle Regional Health Services, Elizabeth City, NC, USA;

关键词: Farmers’ market;    Community nutrition;    Fruit;    Vegetable;    Obesity;    Consumer behavior;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-016-3943-7

 received in 2016-05-28, accepted in 2016-12-14,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe association between farmers’ market characteristics and consumer shopping habits remains unclear. Our objective was to examine associations among distance to farmers’ markets, amenities within farmers’ markets, frequency of farmers’ market shopping, fruit and vegetable consumption, and body mass index (BMI). We hypothesized that the relationship between frequency of farmers’ market shopping and BMI would be mediated by fruit and vegetable consumption.MethodsIn 15 farmers’ markets in northeastern North Carolina, July–September 2015, we conducted a cross-sectional survey among 263 farmers’ market customers (199 provided complete address data) and conducted farmers’ market audits. To participate, customers had to be over 18 years of age, and English speaking. Dependent variables included farmers’ market shopping frequency, fruit and vegetable consumption, and BMI. Analysis of variance, adjusted multinomial logistic regression, Poisson regression, and linear regression models, adjusted for age, race, sex, and education, were used to examine associations between distance to farmers’ markets, amenities within farmers’ markets, frequency of farmers’ market shopping, fruit and vegetable consumption, and BMI.ResultsThose who reported shopping at farmers’ markets a few times per year or less reported consuming 4.4 (standard deviation = 1.7) daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and those who reported shopping 2 or more times per week reported consuming 5.5 (2.2) daily servings. There was no association between farmers’ market amenities, and shopping frequency or fruit and vegetable consumption. Those who shopped 2 or more times per week had a statistically significantly lower BMI than those who shopped less frequently. There was no evidence of mediation of the relationship between frequency of shopping and BMI by fruit and vegetable consumption.ConclusionsMore work should be done to understand factors within farmers’ markets that encourage fruit and vegetable purchases.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017