title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oexle
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Christine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Blake
authors.affiliation: College of Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Bethany A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. Electronic address: liese@mailbox.sc.edu.
authors.forename: Angela D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Liese
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics; D004034:Diet Surveys; D057140:Fast Foods / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012147:Restaurants / Q000191:economics; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D013022:South Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Availability; Fast food; Fast-food consumption; Neighborhood; Presence