Caregiver perceptions of the neighborhood food environment and their relationship with the home food environment and childhood obesity in Northeast China

Impact of the Neighborhood Food Environment on Dietary Intake and Obesity: a Review of the Recent Literature

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The built environment impacts obesogenic behaviors and in turn body weight outcomes. This review summarizes recent research demonstrating environmental impacts on dietary intake and obesity with a specific focus on the neighborhood food environment.

RECENT FINDINGS

In the previous five years, an abundance of reviews and research studies have been undertaken to elucidate how the neighborhood food environment impacts diet and obesity. This includes studies using primary data collection and secondary data analyses in various populations across the globe. Taken together, current research presents mixed evidence on the impact of the neighborhood food environment on both dietary intake and obesity. While there is some evidence that certain features of the neighborhood food environment influence health behaviors and outcomes in particular populations, it is imperative to acknowledge the complexity of how neighborhood features interact and constantly evolve when considering place-based influences on health behaviors and outcomes.

High nutrition literacy linked with low frequency of take-out food consumption in chinese college students

BACKGROUND

The excessive consumption of take-out food has increased the risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases. Nutrition literacy (NL) is an important influencing factor of food choice. This study aimed to explore the relationship between nutrition literacy and take-out food consumption.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 2130 college students in Bengbu, China. A self-reported questionnaire that included demographic information, lifestyle behavior, take-out food consumption, and nutrition literacy scale was used. Ordinal logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between nutrition literacy and take-out food consumption.

RESULTS

Of the students surveyed, 61.5% consumed take-out food at least once a week. NL was significantly associated with the frequency of take-out food consumption ≥ 4 times/week (OR = 0.995, 95% CI = 0.990-1.000); the difference specifically was discovered for applying skills, interactive skills, and critical skills. Moreover, students with high level NL ate less (Spicy) hot pot (OR = 0.996, 95% CI = 0.992-1.000), but more vegetable and fruit salad (OR = 1.009, 95% CI = 1.002-1.015).

CONCLUSIONS

NL, especially in applying skills, interactive skills, and critical skills, is not only associated with consumption frequency of take-out food among college students, but also links with types of take-out food consumption. Our findings emphasize that targeted interventions on nutritional skills literacy should be needed to improve dietary behaviors for student's good health.

Association between dietary knowledge and overweight/obesity in Chinese children and adolescents aged 8-18 years: a cross-sectional study

Background

A lack of adequate dietary knowledge may result in poor health. The purpose of this study was to study the association between dietary knowledge and overweight/obesity in children and adolescents. 

Method

Data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, and 2015 were used in this cross-sectional study. The dietary knowledge of children and adolescents was evaluated by the questionnaire in the database. The overweight and obesity status was evaluated by body mass index (BMI). Cluster analysis was performed to establish different groups based on dietary knowledge level. Logistic regression analysis and subgroup analysis were conducted.

Results

A total of 2,701 children and adolescents were finally selected. Cluster A (n = 837, 30.99%), Cluster B (n = 1,264, 46.80%) and Cluster C (n = 600, 22.21%) were high, medium and low dietary knowledge level, respectively. Participants with high dietary knowledge levels [OR = 0.56 (95%CI: 1.40–0.78)] may be negatively associated with overweight and obesity. Similar results were found among adolescents, males, females, people living in eastern and northeastern China, and rural areas, after adjusting for age, gender, geographic region, maternal education level, alcohol consumption, waist-to-hip ratio, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure.

Conclusion

Improving the dietary knowledge level of children and adolescents was associated with decreased risk of overweight and obesity. Our study provided a theoretical basis for the relationship between dietary knowledge and overweight/obesity in Chinese children and adolescents and suggested strengthening the publicity and popularization of dietary knowledge in schools and communities.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12887-022-03618-2.

Perceived neighbourhood food access is associated with consumption of animal-flesh food, fruits and vegetables among mothers and young children in peri-urban Cambodia

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether mothers' perceived neighbourhood food access is associated with their own and their young children's consumption of animal-flesh food, fruits and vegetables in peri-urban areas of Cambodia.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional survey measured food consumption frequency and perceived neighbourhood food access, the latter including six dimensions of food availability, affordability, convenience, quality, safety and desirability. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between perceived food access and food consumption.

SETTING

Peri-urban districts of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodia.

PARTICIPANTS

198 mothers of children between 6 and 24 months old.

RESULTS

Over 25 % of the mothers and 40 % of the children had low consumption (< once a day) of either animal-flesh food or fruits and vegetables. Compared with perceived high food access, perceived low food access was associated with an adjusted 5·6-fold and 4·3-fold greater odds of low animal-flesh food consumption among mothers (95 % CI 2·54, 12·46) and children (95 % CI 2·20, 8·60), respectively. Similarly, relative to perceived high food access, perceived low food access was associated with 7·6-times and 5·1-times higher adjusted odds of low fruits and vegetables consumption among mothers (95 % CI 3·22, 18·02) and children (95 % CI 2·69, 9·83), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Mothers' perceived neighbourhood food access was an important predictor of their own and their young children's nutrient-rich food consumption in peri-urban Cambodia. Future work is needed to confirm our findings in other urban settings and examine the role of neighbourhood food environment in the consumption of both nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor food.

Associations between Neighborhood Deprivation Index, Parent Perceptions and Preschooler Lifestyle Behaviors

Parental perceptions and use of neighborhood facilities are important factors that are related to children’s dietary intake and physical activity. The aim of this study was to examine the association between neighborhood deprivation index, parents’ perceptions of their neighborhood environment, and healthy/unhealthy markers of child dietary intake, physical activity, and TV screen time. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Dublin, Ireland. The lifestyle behaviors among children and parental perceptions of their neighborhood environment were reported by the parents of 276 children aged 3–5 years by using parent-completed questionnaires. Deprivation index was assessed using the geographic information system (GIS). Data were analyzed using binary logistic regression, adjusting for socio-demographic confounders. In adjusted models, high deprivation index was associated with parental perception of the neighborhood as unsafe for walking and cycling due to crime (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.04–2.43, p = 0.031) and children’s low engagement in structured physical activity (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.17–0.72, p = 0.004). Parental perceptions of an unsafe neighborhood due to heavy traffic were negatively correlated with children’s active play (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.55–0.95, p = 0.022). Children whose parents reported high satisfaction with the number of local sit-in and takeaway restaurants were 41% more likely to consume confectionary/sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) weekly. In this age group, parents play an important role in children’s lifestyle behaviors; therefore, a better understanding of parents’ perceptions and their use of neighborhood facilities could contribute to creating a healthy environment for this age group.

The influence of the urban food environment on diet, nutrition and health outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Introduction

Diet and nutrition are leading causes of global morbidity and mortality. Our study aimed to identify and synthesise evidence on the association between food environment characteristics and diet, nutrition and health outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), relevant to urban settings, to support development and implementation of appropriate interventions.

Methods

We conducted a comprehensive search of 9 databases from 1 January 2000 to 16 September 2020 with no language restrictions. We included original peer-reviewed observational studies, intervention studies or natural experiments conducted in at least one urban LMIC setting and reporting a quantitative association between a characteristic of the food environment and a diet, nutrition or health outcome. Study selection was done independently in duplicate. Data extraction and quality appraisal using the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute checklists were completed based on published reports using a prepiloted form on Covidence. Data were synthesised narratively.

Results

74 studies met eligibility criteria. Consistent evidence reported an association between availability characteristics in the neighbourhood food environment and dietary behaviour (14 studies, 10 rated as good quality), while the balance of evidence suggested an association with health or nutrition outcomes (17 of 24 relevant studies). We also found a balance of evidence that accessibility to food in the neighbourhood environment was associated with diet (10 of 11 studies) although evidence of an association with health outcomes was contradictory. Evidence on other neighbourhood food environment characteristics was sparse and mixed. Availability in the school food environment was also found to be associated with relevant outcomes. Studies investigating our other primary outcomes in observational studies of the school food environment were sparse, but most interventional studies were situated in schools. We found very little evidence on how workplace and home food environments are associated with relevant outcomes. This is a substantial evidence gap.

Conclusion

‘Zoning’ or ‘healthy food cart’ interventions to alter food availability may be appropriate in urban LMIC.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42020207475.