Children's fruit and vegetable intake: associations with the neighbourhood food environment.
OBJECTIVE
To examine associations between availability of different types of food outlets and children's fruit and vegetable intake.


METHODS
Parents of 340 5-6 and 461 10-12 year-old Australian children reported how frequently their child ate 14 fruits and 13 vegetables in the last week in 2002/3. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to determine the availability of the following types of food outlets near home: greengrocers; supermarkets; convenience stores; fast food outlets; restaurants, cafés and takeaway outlets. Logistic regression analyses examined the likelihood of consuming fruit >or=2 times/day and vegetables >or=3 times/day, according to access to food outlets.


RESULTS
Overall, 62.5% of children ate fruit >or=2 times/day and 46.4% ate vegetables >or=3 times/day. The more fast food outlets (OR=0.82, 95%CI=0.67-0.99) and convenience stores (OR=0.84, 95%CI=0.73-0.98) close to home, the lower the likelihood of consuming fruit >or=2 times/day. There was also an inverse association between density of convenience stores and the likelihood of consuming vegetables >or=3 times/day (OR=0.84, 95%CI=0.74-0.95). The likelihood of consuming vegetables >or=3 times/day was greater the farther children lived from a supermarket (OR=1.27, 95%CI=1.07-1.51) or a fast food outlet (OR=1.19, 95%CI=1.06-1.35).


CONCLUSIONS
Availability of fast food outlets and convenience stores close to home may have a negative effect on children's fruit and vegetable intake.
Timperio
Anna
A
Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.
Ball
Kylie
K
Roberts
Rebecca
R
Campbell
Karen
K
Andrianopoulos
Nick
N
Crawford
David
D
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003132:Commerce; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005523:Food Supply; D005638:Fruit; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D010290:Parents; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012147:Restaurants; D014675:Vegetables; D014739:Victoria