Exploring the relationship between local food environments and obesity in UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand: a systematic review protocol

Abstract

IntroductionObesity is a global pandemic that affects all socioeconomic strata, however, the highest figures have been observed in the most disadvantaged social groups. Evidence from the USA and Canada showed that specific urban settings encourage obesogenic behaviour in the population living and/or working there. We aim to examine the evidence on the association between local food environments and obesity in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.MethodsSix databases from 1990 to 2017 will be searched: MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), Scopus, The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) and Web of Science. Grey literature will also be sought by searching Opengrey Europe, The Grey Literature Report and relevant government websites. Additional studies will be retrieved from the reference lists of the selected articles. It will include cohort, longitudinal, case study and cross-sectional studies that have assessed the relationship between local food environments and obesity in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand regardless of sex, age and ethnicity of the population. Two researchers will independently select the studies and extract the data. Data items will incorporate: author names, title, study design, year of study, year exposure data collected, country, city, urban/rural, age range, study exclusions, special characteristics of study populations, aims, working definitions of food environments and food outlets, exposure and methods of data collection, outcomes and key findings. A narrative synthesis and a summary of the results will be produced separately for children and adults, according to the type of food exposure–outcome. All the selected studies will be assessed using The Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies.Ethics and disseminationThis study will be based on published literature, and therefore ethical approval has not been sought. Our findings will be presented at relevant national and international scientific conferences and published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Application of the NEOH Framework for Self-Evaluation of One Health Elements of a Case-Study on Obesity in European Dogs and Dog-Owners

“…Psychological factors and obesogenic environments affect physical activity and eating behaviors ( 18 ), but human-animal bond related physical activities are frequently not considered in the human health care system even though there are potentially strong obesity preventing measures that would be easy to apply in other sectors, e.g., dog-play activities for children as well as dog-assisted physical activities for adults, “health schools” in which humans can learn about healthy food consumption practices through the learning about appropriate diets for healthy dog and humans. Hence, some OH-initiatives for reducing obesity in both dogs and dog-owners clearly build on learning as an important element in the OH-initiative.…”

Racial Differences in Pain, Nutrition, and Oxidative Stress

“…In addition, these areas are more likely to report lower quality and a limited selection of foodstuffs [ 111 ]. As a result, individuals in low-income neighborhoods are likely to increase their consumption of energy-dense, low-cost items in order to ensure adequate food intake [ 112 , 113 ]. In addition to the lack of fresh produce, the proportion of fast food restaurants to residents is higher in Black neighborhoods [ 110 ].…”

Food environment and obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Despite numerous studies investigating the retail food environment’s impact on obesity, systematic reviews and meta-analyses are scarce 17–20. Previous analyses have often been restricted to specific regions or populations, with limited attention to the methodologies for measuring the retail food environment 17–20.…”