The impact of a new McDonald's restaurant on eating behaviours and perceptions of local residents: A natural experiment using repeated cross-sectional data

Community listening to understand determinants of healthy eating in an Australian priority community

Unhealthy dietary behaviour is associated with several adverse health outcomes. However, individual dietary choices aren't solely the function of personal habits and are influenced by various environmental factors. This study aimed to identify the social determinants of dietary behaviours in a priority Australian community. We utilized community listening to explore the priority community members' narratives and experiences about the determinants influencing their dietary behaviour. Those determinants were then categorized under the lens of the Socio-ecological Model. The suburb of Inala; a low socioeconomic, multiethnic community in Southwest Brisbane, Queensland, Australia was selected to listen to the voices of community members, health professionals, social workers, teachers, and community service providers. Researchers listened to hundreds of stories from 168 community members throughout the project. Participants identified personal interest in healthy eating, knowledge of healthy food and preparation; and time constraints for healthy food preparation, which were subsequently categorized under individual-level (microsystem) determinants of dietary behaviour. Family support, parental influence, and commitments were identified as other determinants that were categorized under social-environment level (mesosystem) determinants. Availability of fresh fruits and vegetables and ubiquity of fast-food outlets were the other factors identified, which were listed under physical-environment (exo-system) determinants; and finally, cost of living, inculturation, and dissatisfaction with health practitioners were identified and categorized under policy-level (macrosystem) determinants. The complex relationship between personal, sociocultural, and environmental factors with dietary behaviour presented in this study highlights the need for multi-component and culturally tailored initiatives to enable healthy eating in priority communities.

Measuring the association between the opening of a new multi-national restaurant with young people's eating behaviours

Out-of-home eating (takeaway, take-out and fast-foods) is associated with intakes of higher energy and fat, and lower intakes of micronutrients, and is associated with excess weight gain. In 2017, a unique opportunity arose to measure the association between the opening of a new multi-national fast-food restaurant (McDonald's) and consumption of fast-food on young people aged 11-16. This study uses a repeated cross-sectional design to explore group level change over time with respect to out-of-home eating behaviours of young people. Two secondary schools in Redcar and Cleveland agreed to participate and facilitated the completion of a questionnaire on their pupils eating behaviours at three timepoints a) prior to the new restaurant opening, b) three months post-opening and c) nine months post opening. Reported frequency of visits to McDonald's showed a statistically significant increase in visits between 3 and 9 months of the restaurant opening. This research asks and explores the question of whether the introduction of a new multi-national fast-food restaurant influences eating habits of young people attending schools near the new outlet.

The community food environment and its association with diet, health or weight status in Australia: A systematic review with recommendations for future research

ISSUE ADDRESSED

This study systematically reviewed Australian literature to determine if an association exists between geospatial exposure to food outlets and diet, health or weight status. Recommendations for future research are provided.

METHODS

A systematic literature search was conducted in December 2021 using CINAHL Plus, PubMed and Web of Science databases. Data were extracted, as per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Study quality was assessed using an eight-item checklist. A descriptive synthesis of study characteristics and findings was carried out, stratified via study outcomes.

RESULTS

Of the 36 included articles, the majority were from Victoria (n = 19), involving adult participants (n = 30) and cross-sectional in design (n = 27). Overall, associations were mainly null (nonsignificant) for diet (80%), weight status (75%) and health outcomes (90%). Significant findings were mixed with no positive trend with study quality.

CONCLUSIONS

Six recommendations are suggested to address current knowledge gaps and limitations in the Australian evidence base: (1) Conduct research on different populations; (2) Employ robust study designs that can test the impact of change over time; (3) Improve the accuracy of food outlet data sources; (4) Improve food outlet geospatial exposure measures; (5) Improve measurement of outcome variables; and (6) Incorporate theoretical models into study design and data analysis. SO WHAT?: Improving the quality and consistency of research will be critical to informing locally relevant policy. Despite the present limitations in the evidence base, it is reasonable to assume that decisions to purchase and consume food are driven by availability and access. Thus, policy and planning aimed at improving the overall "healthiness" of the community food environment by increasing access to healthy food outlets is warranted to ensure that healthy options are easier choice for all.

Google Street View-Derived Neighborhood Characteristics in California Associated with Coronary Heart Disease, Hypertension, Diabetes

Characteristics of the neighborhood built environment influence health and health behavior. Google Street View (GSV) images may facilitate measures of the neighborhood environment that are meaningful, practical, and adaptable to any geographic boundary. We used GSV images and computer vision to characterize neighborhood environments (green streets, visible utility wires, and dilapidated buildings) and examined cross-sectional associations with chronic health outcomes among patients from the University of California, San Francisco Health system with outpatient visits from 2015 to 2017. Logistic regression models were adjusted for patient age, sex, marital status, race/ethnicity, insurance status, English as preferred language, assignment of a primary care provider, and neighborhood socioeconomic status of the census tract in which the patient resided. Among 214,163 patients residing in California, those living in communities in the highest tertile of green streets had 16–29% lower prevalence of coronary artery disease, hypertension, and diabetes compared to those living in communities in the lowest tertile. Conversely, a higher presence of visible utility wires overhead was associated with 10–26% more coronary artery disease and hypertension, and a higher presence of dilapidated buildings was associated with 12–20% greater prevalence of coronary artery disease, hypertension, and diabetes. GSV images and computer vision models can be used to understand contextual factors influencing patient health outcomes and inform structural and place-based interventions to promote population health.

Do Changes in the Local Food Environment Within New Residential Developments Influence the Diets of Residents? Longitudinal Results from RESIDE

Background: There is limited longitudinal evidence supporting a link between food outlet locations and dietary outcomes to inform policy and urban planning. This study examined how longitudinal changes in the local food environment within new residential developments influenced changes in adult dietary intake. Methods: Adult participant data (n = 3223 person-observations) were sourced from the RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) project across three time points between 2004 to 2012 in Perth, Western Australia. Fixed effects regression estimated the relationship between change in spatial exposure to the local food environment, individual behaviours and perceptions of the local food environment with dietary outcome variables (healthy diet score, unhealthy diet score, diet quality score and fruit/vegetable intake). Results: An increase over time in the percentage of healthy food outlets around the home was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) associated with an increase in healthy diet scores and an increase in the distance from home to the nearest café restaurant was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) associated with an increase in diet quality scores. Conclusions: Modifying the local food environment by increasing the relative proportion of healthy food outlets around the home may support healthier dietary intake.

Neighbourhood fast food exposure and consumption: the mediating role of neighbourhood social norms

Background

The association between the residential fast food environment and diet has gained growing attention. However, why the food environment affects food consumption is under-examined. This study aimed to investigate neighbourhood social norms with respect to fast food consumption as a potential mediating pathway between residential fast food outlet exposure and residents’ fast food consumption.

Methods

A correlational study was conducted in which a nationwide sample of 1038 respondents living across The Netherlands completed a survey. Respondents reported their fast food consumption (amount/week) as well as perceived descriptive and injunctive norms regarding fast food consumption in their neighbourhood. Fast food outlet exposure was measured by the average count of fast food outlets within a 400 m walking distance buffer around the zip-codes of the respondents, using a retail outlet database. Regression models were used to assess associations between residential fast food outlet exposure, fast food consumption, and social norm perceptions, and a bootstrapping procedure was used to test the indirect -mediation- effect. Separate analyses were performed for descriptive norms and injunctive norms.

Results

There was no overall or direct association between residential fast food outlet exposure and residents’ fast food consumption. However, fast food outlet exposure was positively associated with neighbourhood social norms (descriptive and injunctive) regarding fast food consumption, which in turn were positively associated with the odds of consuming fast food. Moreover, results of the bootstrapped analysis provided evidence of indirect effects of fast food outlet exposure on fast food consumption, via descriptive norms and injunctive norms.

Conclusions

In neighbourhoods with more fast food outlets, residents were more likely to perceive fast food consumption in the neighbourhood as more common and appropriate. In turn, stronger neighbourhood social norms were associated with higher fast food consumption. Acknowledging the correlational design, this study is the first that implies that neighbourhood social norms may be a mediating pathway in the relation between the residential fast food environment and fast food consumption. Future research may examine the role of neighbourhood social norms in other contexts and explore how the changing food environment may shift our consumption norms.

The influence of the local food environment on diet following residential relocation: longitudinal results from RESIDential Environments (RESIDE)

OBJECTIVE

To examine the associations of changes in the local food environment, individual behaviours and perceptions with changes in dietary intake, following relocation from an established neighbourhood to a new residential development.

DESIGN

Spatial food environment exposure measures were generated relative to each participant's home address using the locations of food outlets at baseline (before moving house) and follow-up (1-2 years after relocation). Self-reported data on socio-demographics, self-selection, usual dietary intake, individual behaviours and perceptions of the local food environment were sourced from the RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) Project. Changes in spatial exposure measures, individual behaviours and perceptions with changes in dietary outcomes were examined using mixed linear models.

SETTING

Perth, Western Australia, 2003-2007.

PARTICIPANTS

Adults (n 1200) from the RESIDE Project.

RESULTS

Moving to a new residential development with more convenience stores and café restaurants around the home was significantly associated with an increase in unhealthy food intake (β = 0·049, 95 % CI 0·010, 0·089; β = 0·020, 95 % CI 0·007, 0·033) and was partially mediated by individual behaviours and perceptions. A greater percentage of healthy food outlets around the home following relocation was significantly associated with an increase in healthy food (β = 0·003, 95 % CI 0·001, 0·005) and fruit/vegetable intake (β = 0·002, 95 % CI 0·001, 0·004).

CONCLUSIONS

Policy and planning may influence dietary intakes by restricting the number of convenience stores and other unhealthy food outlets and increasing the relative percentage of healthy food outlets.

A systematic review of the Australian food retail environment: Characteristics, variation by geographic area, socioeconomic position and associations with diet and obesity

There is strong support across multiple sectors for the implementation of policies to create healthier food environments as part of comprehensive strategies to address obesity and improve population diets. The existing evidence base describing food retail environments and their relationship with health outcomes is limited in several respects. This systematic review examines the current evidence regarding food retail environments in Australia, including associations with diet and people with obesity, and socioeconomic and geographic disparities. Three databases were searched and independently screened. Studies were included if they were undertaken in Australia and objectively measured the food retail environment. Sixty papers were included. The broad range of methodological approaches used across studies limited the ability to synthesize the evidence and draw conclusions. Results indicated that there is some evidence that disparities exist in food retail environments across measures of socioeconomic position and geographic area in parts of Australia. Overall, there were inconsistent findings regarding the association between the healthiness of food retail environments and diet or people with obesity. Findings support previous calls for standardized tools and measures for monitoring the healthiness of food retail environments. This is imperative to inform evidence-based policy and evaluation in this critical component of recommended obesity prevention strategies.

Results from a natural experiment: initial neighbourhood investments do not change objectively-assessed physical activity, psychological distress or perceptions of the neighbourhood

BACKGROUND

Few studies have assessed objectively measured physical activity (PA), active transportation, psychological distress and neighborhood perceptions among residents of a neighborhood before and after substantial improvements in its physical environment. Also, most research-to-date has employed study designs subject to neighborhood selection, which may introduce bias in reported findings. We built upon a previously enrolled cohort of households from two low-income predominantly African American Pittsburgh neighborhoods, matched on socio-demographic composition including race/ethnicity, income and education. One of the two neighborhoods received substantial neighborhood investments over the course of this study including, but not limited to public housing development and greenspace/landscaping. We implemented a natural experiment using matched intervention and control neighborhoods and conducted pre-post assessments among the cohort. Our comprehensive assessments included accelerometry-based PA, active transportation, psychological distress and perceptions of the neighborhood, with assessments conducted both prior to and following the neighborhood changes. In 2013, we collected data from 1003 neighborhood participants and in 2016, we re-interviewed 676 of those participants. We conducted an intent to treat analysis, with a difference-in-difference estimator using attrition weighting to account for nonresponse between 2013 and 2016. In addition, we derived an individual-level indicator of exposure to neighbourhood investment and estimated effect of exposure to investment on the same set of outcomes using covariate-adjusted models.

RESULTS

We observed no statistically significant differences in activity, psychological distress, satisfaction with one's neighborhood as a place to live or any of the other measures we observed prior to and after the neighborhood investments between the intervention and control neighborhoods or those exposed vs not exposed to investments.

CONCLUSIONS

Using this rigorous study design, we observed no significant changes in the intervention neighborhood above and beyond secular trends present in the control neighborhood. Although neighborhood investment may have other benefits, we failed to see improvement in PA, psychological distress or related outcomes in the low-income African American neighborhoods in our study. This may be an indication that improvements in the physical environment may not directly translate into improvements in residents' physical activity or health outcomes without additional individual-level interventions. It is also possible that these investments were not dramatic enough to spur change within the three year period. Additional studies employing similar design with other cohorts in other settings are needed to confirm these results.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Trial Registration is not applicable since we did not prospectively assign individuals to a health-related intervention.

Fast-food outlet availability and obesity: Considering variation by age and methodological diversity in 22,889 Yorkshire Health Study participants

This study investigated if the relationship between residential fast-food outlet availability and obesity varied due to methodological diversity or by age. Cross-sectional data (n = 22,889) from the Yorkshire Health Study, England were used. Obesity was defined using self-reported height and weight (BMI ≥ 30). Food outlets ("fast-food", "large supermarkets", and "convenience or other food retail outlets") were mapped using Ordnance Survey Points of Interest (PoI) database. Logistic regression was used for all analyses. Methodological diversity included adjustment for other food outlets as covariates and continuous count vs. quartile. The association between residential fast-food outlets and obesity was inconsistent and effects remained substantively the same when considering methodological diversity. This study contributes to evidence by proposing the use of a more comprehensive conceptual model adjusting for wider markers of the food environment. This study offers tentative evidence that the association between fast-food outlets and obesity varies by age.