Neighborhood fast food availability and fast food consumption

Abstract

Recent nutritional and public health research has focused on how the availability of various types of food in a person’s immediate area or neighborhood influences his or her food choices and eating habits. It has been theorized that people living in areas with a wealth of unhealthy fast-food options may show higher levels of fast-food consumption, a factor that often coincides with being overweight or obese. However, measuring food availability in a particular area is difficult to achieve consistently: there may be differences in the strict physical locations of food options as compared to how individuals perceive their personal food availability, and various studies may use either one or both of these measures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between weekly fast-food consumption and both a person’s perceived availability of fast-food and an objective measure of fast-food presence—Geographic Information Systems (GIS)—within that person’s neighborhood. A randomly selected population-based sample of eight counties in South Carolina was used to conduct a cross-sectional telephone survey assessing self-report fast-food consumption and perceived availability of fast food. GIS was used to determine the actual number of fast-food outlets within each participant’s neighborhood. Using multinomial logistic regression analyses, we found that neither perceived availability nor GIS-based presence of fast-food was significantly associated with weekly fast-food consumption. Our findings indicate that availability might not be the dominant factor influencing fast-food consumption. We recommend using subjective availability measures and considering individual characteristics that could influence both perceived availability of fast food and its impact on fast-food consumption. If replicated, our findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing fast-food consumption by limiting neighborhood fast-food availability might not be completely effective.

Development and validation of the Perceived Food Environment Questionnaire in a French-Canadian population

“…Therefore, the questionnaire developed and validated in the present study addressed an important gap in this area of research. Other authors have generally assessed either access to healthy foods or to fast food using one to four non-validated items (9,12,15,17,20,26,28,36,37) . Mujahid et al (21) have validated a three-item availability to healthy foods questionnaire, measuring the internal consistency and the test-retest reliability of the scale.…”

“…The items generated based on factors that were mentioned by their participants are therefore relevant for both high and low socioeconomic groups. We were also inspired by items documented in several other studies having assessed participants' perceptions of their food environment (9,12,15,16,19,20,(25)(26)(27)(28)(29) . The items were developed and chosen by a team of three nutrition researchers and one health behavior researcher to ensure the face validity of the questionnaire, i.e.…”

Do GIS-derived measures of fast food retailers convey perceived fast food opportunities? Implications for food environment assessment

“…An individual’s perception of fast food availability has emerged as alternative method to characterize fast food exposure; however, few studies have used such perception (e.g., subjective) measures of fast food availability in relation to fast food consumption and diet quality [9,11,18,19]. Specifically, Moore et al (2009) reported that participants who lived in areas with higher self-reported exposure to fast food had 27% higher odds of consuming fast food near their home compared to those living in areas with lower reported exposure [9].…”

“…Ho et al (2010) found that perceived availability of fast food is significantly associated with higher fast food consumption in a sample of adolescent boys [18]. Recently, Oxele et al (2015) found no significant association of either perceived or GIS-based fast food availability with weekly fast food consumption in a sample of middle-aged adults [19]. However, the relationship between perceived and GIS-based fast food availability has not been examined in depth.…”

Scientific-practical approaches to justification of location of quick service restaurants

“…The latest studies by researchers including Athens, 2016; Bas, 2018;Folch, 2018;Oexle, 2015;Widaningrum, 2017 demonstrate the relevance of seeking a compromise model for fast-food planning and development in the service market. This model is expected to consider, on the one hand, business interests of the QSR owners, on the other, demands of the consumers of catering services and their right to meet these demands, as well as regulatory activities of the state authorities responsible for guaranteeing food safety at the local, regional and national levels.…”