Examination of the Relationship between In-Store Environmental Factors and Fruit and Vegetable Purchasing among Hispanics.

Jennifer Sanchez-Flack,Maria Martinez,Cheryl Anderson,George Belch,Elva Arredondo,Julie Pickrel,Shih-Fan Lin,Guadalupe Ayala

doi:10.3390/ijerph14111305

Abstract

Retail food environments have received attention for their influence on dietary behaviors and for their nutrition intervention potential. To improve diet-related behaviors, such as fruit and vegetable (FV) purchasing, it is important to examine its relationship with in-store environmental characteristics. This study used baseline data from the “El Valor de Nuestra Salud” study to examine how in-store environmental characteristics, such as product availability, placement and promotion, were associated with FV purchasing among Hispanic customers in San Diego County. Mixed linear regression models indicated that greater availability of fresh FVs was associated with a $0.36 increase in FV purchasing (p = 0.01). Placement variables, specifically each additional square foot of display space dedicated to FVs (p = 0.01) and each additional fresh FV display (p = 0.01), were associated with a $0.02 increase and $0.29 decrease, respectively, in FV purchasing. Introducing FV promotions in the final model was not related to FV purchasing. Exploratory analyses indicated that men reported spending $3.69 fewer dollars on FVs compared to women, controlling for covariates (p = 0.02). These results can help inform interventions targeting in-store environmental characteristics to encourage FV purchasing among Hispanics.

Highlights

Retail food environments, such as grocery and other food stores, have received increased attention for their influence on dietary behaviors and for being places to promote healthful eating [1].These environments are situated between individuals and the foods and beverages they consume, making them an opportune setting to promote healthy dietary behaviors and prevent and control obesity [2].Int
Across all in-store environmental characteristics, kappa coefficients and intraclass correlations (ICCs) demonstrated moderate to perfect agreement for the audit data analyzed at baseline
Kappa coefficients were above 0.80–1.00 for product availability variables indicating moderate to perfect agreement [66]

Summary

Introduction

Retail food environments, such as grocery and other food stores, have received increased attention for their influence on dietary behaviors and for being places to promote healthful eating [1].These environments are situated between individuals and the foods and beverages they consume, making them an opportune setting to promote healthy dietary behaviors and prevent and control obesity [2].Int. Retail food environments, such as grocery and other food stores, have received increased attention for their influence on dietary behaviors and for being places to promote healthful eating [1]. These environments are situated between individuals and the foods and beverages they consume, making them an opportune setting to promote healthy dietary behaviors and prevent and control obesity [2]. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 1305; doi:10.3390/ijerph14111305 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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Discussion

Conclusion