Attributes of the food and physical activity built environments from the Southern Cone of Latin America

Laura E Gutierrez,Luz Gibbons,Fernando Lanas,Jacqueline Ponzo,Nora Mores,Mabel Berrueta,Vilma Irazola,Martín Chaparro,Matías Calandrelli,Rosana Poggio,Santiago Melendi,Natalia Elorriaga

doi:10.1038/s41597-021-01073-9

Abstract

Previous studies have shown the influence of the physical and social environments on the development of obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCD). An obesogenic environment promotes higher dietary energy intakes and sedentary behaviors while limiting opportunities or incentives for active living. This paper presents a dataset with key attributes of the food and physical activity built environment, including green spaces, quality of streets and sidewalks, and different types of food retail outlets in four cities of the Southern Cone of Latin America. A total of 139 representative neighborhoods randomly selected from: Marcos Paz and Bariloche (Argentina), Temuco (Chile) and Canelones-Barros Blancos (Uruguay) were evaluated, where standardized community walks were conducted for direct observation of the built environment. This dataset will contribute valuable data to the evaluation of obesogenic environments in the region, and could be linked to additional ecological information about risk factors for NCDs and socio-economic features from other sources. Understanding environmental influences on cardiovascular risk factors and individual habits may help explain NCD outcomes and plan urban policies.

Highlights

Background & SummaryWhile obesity and non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention efforts to date have mainly focused on individual health-related behaviors, there is growing recognition of the influence of the physical and social environments in which people live[1,2,3,4,5,6]
Several studies have shown the relation between characteristics of built environments, from neighborhoods to cities, and prevalence of NCDs and their risk factors, such as obesity, physical inactivity, hypertension and diabetes[14,15,16,17,18,19,20]
We conducted a population-based study, which included the systematic observation of a random sample of neighborhoods in four cities from the Southern Cone of Latin America: Marcos Paz y Bariloche (Argentina), Temuco (Chile) and Pando-Barros Blancos-Colonia Nicolich (Uruguay)

Summary

Introduction

Background & SummaryWhile obesity and non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention efforts to date have mainly focused on individual health-related behaviors, there is growing recognition of the influence of the physical and social environments in which people live[1,2,3,4,5,6]. We conducted a population-based study, which included the systematic observation of a random sample of neighborhoods in four cities from the Southern Cone of Latin America: Marcos Paz y Bariloche (Argentina), Temuco (Chile) and Pando-Barros Blancos-Colonia Nicolich (Uruguay). Www.nature.com/scientificdata the built environment by trained observers.

Results

Conclusion