Do Changes in the Local Food Environment Within New Residential Developments Influence the Diets of Residents? Longitudinal Results from RESIDE.

Alexia Bivoltsis,Gina Ambrosini,Paula Hooper,Gina Trapp,Matthew Knuiman

doi:10.3390/ijerph17186778

Abstract

Background: There is limited longitudinal evidence supporting a link between food outlet locations and dietary outcomes to inform policy and urban planning. This study examined how longitudinal changes in the local food environment within new residential developments influenced changes in adult dietary intake. Methods: Adult participant data (n = 3223 person-observations) were sourced from the RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) project across three time points between 2004 to 2012 in Perth, Western Australia. Fixed effects regression estimated the relationship between change in spatial exposure to the local food environment, individual behaviours and perceptions of the local food environment with dietary outcome variables (healthy diet score, unhealthy diet score, diet quality score and fruit/vegetable intake). Results: An increase over time in the percentage of healthy food outlets around the home was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) associated with an increase in healthy diet scores and an increase in the distance from home to the nearest café restaurant was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) associated with an increase in diet quality scores. Conclusions: Modifying the local food environment by increasing the relative proportion of healthy food outlets around the home may support healthier dietary intake.

Highlights

Poor diet is a leading preventable risk factor contributing to the rise in obesity and nutrition-related chronic diseases (NRCD) such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers, both globally and in Australia [1,2,3,4]
The RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) project is a longitudinal natural experiment that collected data between 2003 and 2012 from people who relocated from their home within an established neighbourhood into one of 73 new residential developments across Perth, Western Australia (WA)
The recruited study sample at time points of 2006 (T2) to T4 was slightly older, more affluent and with a higher percentage being female than the population of greater Perth [41]

Summary

Introduction

Poor diet is a leading preventable risk factor contributing to the rise in obesity and nutrition-related chronic diseases (NRCD) such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers, both globally and in Australia [1,2,3,4]. The local food environment (i.e., the spatial location, type and mix of food outlets around the home) can influence people’s diets by altering individual behaviours such as food outlet choice and purchasing patterns [9]. Modifying the location, type and mix of food outlets may contribute to improving people’s diets at a population-level. There is limited longitudinal evidence supporting a link between food outlet locations and dietary outcomes to inform policy and urban planning. This study examined how longitudinal changes in the local food environment within new residential developments influenced changes in adult dietary intake. Conclusions: Modifying the local food environment by increasing the relative proportion of healthy food outlets around the home may support healthier dietary intake

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