Neighbourhood food typologies, fast food outlet visitation and snack food purchasing among adolescents in Melbourne, Australia

Association between neighbourhood food environment and dietary quality among adolescents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The neighbourhood food environment has been found to influence the dietary quality of adolescents. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the association between neighbourhood food environment and dietary quality among adolescents that come from low-income families in Kuala Lumpur. This cross-sectional study involves 184 adolescents from six public secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur. The online self-administered questionnaire through Google Forms was used to obtain information regarding adolescents' sociodemographic characteristics, dietary quality, and perceived availability, accessibility, and affordability of the neighbourhood food environment. Food stores and home addresses were geocoded using Google Earth. Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to identify the status of neighbourhood food environment, map the food stores and home addresses, and determine 1000m buffer zones around respondents' addresses. Associations between neighbourhood food environment statuses and dietary quality were examined using Pearson correlation, Chi-Square Test and Multivariable Linear Regression (MLR). The most reported response for dietary quality status is it 'requires improvement' (62.0 %), compared to having a 'poor diet' (23.9 %) and 'good' (14.1 %). The majority (60.3 %) resided in a healthy food environment, while the minority lived in food swamps (37.0 %) and food deserts (2.7 %). Although the majority of respondents perceived While a higher number of them perceived high food availability (76.6 %) and affordability (64.7 %) of healthy food stores in their neighbourhood, over half (51.7 %) reported low accessibility to these stores. About 33.2 % of them never use food delivery services, followed by at least once per month (31.5 %), once every two weeks (16.3 %), and once per week (19.0 %). Age (rs = -0.19), ethnicity (X 2 = 5.75), fathers' educational level (rs = 0.15), non-fast-food restaurants (r = -0.16) and convenience stores (rs = -0.20) were significantly correlated with adolescents' dietary quality (p < 0.05). However, after adjustment for covariates, ethnicity (β = 0.180, t = 2.283, p = 0.020), father's educational level (β = 0.177, t = 2.113, p = 0.036) and monthly household income (β = -0.169, t = -2.160, p = 0.032) were identified as significantly associated with dietary quality. The dietary quality of urban poor adolescents in Kuala Lumpur requires further improvement in terms of awareness and intervention. Interventions should focus on increasing fathers' awareness of healthy food choices and addressing ethnic dietary. Enhancing nutrition education in schools may also help improve dietary habits among low-income urban adolescents.

The Influence of the School Neighborhood Food Retail Environment on Unhealthy Food Purchasing Behaviors Among Adolescents: A Systematic Review

INTRODUCTION

Adolescents are often exposed to food retailers selling unhealthy food items during their lunch breaks and school commutes. This systematic review examines the influence of school neighborhood food retail environments on adolescent food purchasing.

METHODS

A systematic search of 6 databases. Observational studies published from January 2012 to December 2022 that measured food availability, accessibility, or exposure, measured food purchasing, and focused on adolescents (aged 10-19 years) were eligible for inclusion.

RESULTS

Twelve studies with 97 findings were included. Thirty-one findings indicated that a school neighborhood with a high density of unhealthy food retail, a school with unhealthy food retail nearby, or exposure to unhealthy food retail on the journey to/from school was associated with higher prevalence and frequency of unhealthy food purchases.

DISCUSSION

Adolescents' food purchasing behaviors may be meaningfully affected by their school neighborhood food retail environment; however, the included studies have many methodological shortcomings.

IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Results identify the need for new studies that measure food purchasing, use comprehensive definitions of food retail environments, and adopt more rigorous methods to approximate exposure to food retail. More robust evidence would strengthen the rationale for policy or program interventions and potentially indicate specific targets for intervention.

Influences of the community and consumer nutrition environment on the food purchases and dietary behaviors of adolescents: A systematic review

Adolescence is a period of increased autonomy over decision-making, including food choices, and increased exposure to influences outside the home, including the food environment. This review aims to synthesize the evidence for the influence of community nutrition environments, spatial access to food outlets, and consumer nutrition environments, environments inside food outlets, on adolescent food purchasing and dietary behaviors in high-income countries. Six databases were searched for articles published before January 2023. Results were synthesized using a vote-counting technique and effect direction plots that record the direction of the effect in relation to the anticipated relationship with health. Thirty-four observational and two intervention studies met the inclusion criteria. In the 13 studies assessing adolescent exposure to healthy community nutrition environments, results did not show clear associations with dietary and purchasing outcomes. Thirty studies assessed adolescents' exposure to unhealthy community nutrition environments with the majority (n = 17/30, 57%) reporting results showing that greater exposure to food outlets classified as unhealthy was associated with less healthy food purchases and dietary intakes. Inconsistent results were observed across the seven studies investigating associations with the consumer environment. Further research in these areas, including more high-quality intervention studies, may help to develop policy strategies to improve adolescents' dietary behaviors.