Abstract
Where households across income levels shop for food is of central concern within a growing body of research focused on where people live relative to where they shop, what they purchase and eat, and how those choices influence the risk of obesity and chronic disease. We analyzed data from the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) using a conditional logit model to determine where participants shop for food to be prepared and eaten at home and how individual and household characteristics of food shoppers interact with store characteristics and distance from home in determining store choice. Store size, whether or not it was a full-service supermarket, and the driving distance from home to the store constituted the three significant main effects on store choice. Overall, participants were more likely to choose larger stores, conventional supermarkets rather than super-centers and other types of stores, and stores closer to home. Interaction effects show that participants receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were even more likely to choose larger stores. Hispanic participants were more likely than non-Hispanics to choose full-service supermarkets while White participants were more likely to travel further than non-Whites. This study demonstrates the value of explicitly spatial discrete choice models and provides evidence of national trends consistent with previous smaller, local studies.
Highlights
Where households shop for food, including how they travel, how far they travel, and what stores they choose, is a central concern of health researchers and policymakers, serving as a proxy for access to healthful foods, among low-income and food insecure households
We used the same discrete choice model employed in this previous study [23] with the much larger and more generalizable Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) dataset to address the following research questions: (1) Where do participants shop for food at home (FAH); and (2) How do the individual and household characteristics of food shoppers interact with store characteristics and distance from home to store?
This study builds on previous research linking food store choice to the nutritional quality of food purchases by utilizing an explicitly spatial discrete choice model to analyze a large national dataset
Summary
Where households shop for food, including how they travel, how far they travel, and what stores they choose, is a central concern of health researchers and policymakers, serving as a proxy for access to healthful foods, among low-income and food insecure households. A number of policies and programs focus on the retail food environment, including the location of stores and the foods they stock. These include the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), aimed at developing and equipping food stores with healthful foods, the SNAP and the Special Supplemental. Feeding Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC), which both require stores to be certified to redeem benefits, healthy corner store initiatives, and SNAP matching programs at farmers’ market These programs are based in part on a belief that the type of food stores where households shop. Public Health 2017, 14, 1133; doi:10.3390/ijerph14101133 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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