Parental Perceived Travel Time to and Reported Use of Food Retailers in Association with School Children's Dietary Patterns.

Mariane Alves,Francisco De Assis Guedes De Vasconcelos,Janaina Das Neves,Elizabeth Corrêa,Maria Pinho

doi:10.3390/ijerph16050824

Abstract

Considering the association between the neighborhood food environment and individual eating behaviors, this study aimed to assess the association between parents’ reported use of food facilities by their children, and parental perceived travel time to food facilities, with their children’s dietary patterns. Parents reported the use of supermarkets, full-service and fast-food restaurants, and perceived travel time to these food retailers. To assess school children’s food consumption, a previous day dietary recall was applied. Factor analysis was conducted to identify dietary patterns. To test the association between reported use and perceived travel time to food retailers and school children’s dietary patterns, we performed multilevel linear regression analyses. Parents’ reported use of supermarkets was associated with children’s higher score in the “Morning/Evening Meal” pattern. The use of full-service and fast-food restaurants was associated with children’s higher score in the “Fast Food” pattern. Higher parental perceived travel time to full-service and fast-food restaurants was associated with children’s lower score in the “Fast Food” pattern. Although the use of full-service and fast-food restaurants was associated with a less healthy dietary pattern, the perception of living further away from these food retailers may pose a barrier for the use of these facilities.

Highlights

There is a growing amount of evidence for an association between the neighborhood food environment and individual eating behaviors [1,2]
A large majority of parents reported the use of supermarkets in the past six months (95.7%); restaurants and fast-food restaurants were reported to be used by 65.6% and 64.1% of parents, respectively
We explored the associations between parents’ reported use of food retailers by school children and parents’ perceived travel time to food retailers with school children’s dietary patterns

Summary

Introduction

There is a growing amount of evidence for an association between the neighborhood food environment and individual eating behaviors [1,2]. Considering that food choices are determined by individual behaviors, but are influenced by social and physical environments [3], policies and interventions aimed at improving dietary patterns should take into account the environment in which people live, make food choices, and consume foods [4]. Higher access to supermarkets is associated with lower consumption of fast food among adults [8] and with improved consumption of fruits and vegetables among children [9]. Supermarkets are associated with less desirable food choices such as increased consumption of processed products at the expense of minimally processed foods [10]

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Conclusion