Is proximity to a food retail store associated with diet and BMI in Glasgow, Scotland?

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Sally Macintyre¹  Laura Macdonald¹  Anne Ellaway¹  Kylie Ball² 

[1] MRC/CSO Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, 4 Lilybank Gardens, G12 8RZ, Glasgow, Scotland, UK;School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, 3125, Burwood, VIC, Australia;

关键词: Food Store;    Vegetable Intake;    Food Outlet;    General Store;    Food Retail Environment;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-464

 received in 2010-12-10, accepted in 2011-06-10,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAccess to healthy food is often seen as a potentially important contributor to diet. Policy documents in many countries suggest that variations in access contribute to inequalities in diet and in health. Some studies, mostly in the USA, have found that proximity to food stores is associated with dietary patterns, body weight and socio-economic differences in diet and obesity, whilst others have found no such relationships. We aim to investigate whether proximity to food retail stores is associated with dietary patterns or Body Mass Index in Glasgow, a large city in the UK.MethodsWe mapped data from a 'Health and Well-Being Survey' (n = 991), and a list of food stores (n = 741) in Glasgow City, using ArcGIS, and undertook network analysis to find the distance from respondents' home addresses to the nearest fruit and vegetable store, small general store, and supermarket.ResultsWe found few statistically significant associations between proximity to food retail outlets and diet or obesity, for unadjusted or adjusted models, or when stratifying by gender, car ownership or employment.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that in urban settings in the UK the distribution of retail food stores may not be a major influence on diet and weight, possibly because most urban residents have reasonable access to food stores.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Macdonald et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011