Abstract
The availability of food high in fat, salt and sugar through Fast Food (FF) or takeaway outlets, is implicated in the causal pathway for the obesity epidemic. This review aims to summarise this body of research and highlight areas for future work. Thirty three studies were found that had assessed the geography of these outlets. Fourteen studies showed a positive association between availability of FF outlets and increasing deprivation. Another 13 studies also included overweight or obesity data and showed conflicting results between obesity/overweight and FF outlet availability. There is some evidence that FF availability is associated with lower fruit and vegetable intake. There is potential for land use policies to have an influence on the location of new FF outlets. Further research should incorporate good quality data on FF consumption, weight and physical activity.
Highlights
One of the factors implicated in the obesity epidemic is the availability of inexpensive and unhealthy food
The majority (n = 14) of the 16 studies which looked at an entire population showed a significant association between increasing area level deprivation levels variables and the availability fast food outlets. i.e., income; decreased income, increased Fast Food (FF) exposure [7,19,28,41,44,47,48], socio-economic status; increased deprivation, increased FF exposure [18,23,26,48,49], ethnicity [7,22] and FF exposure
There is a growing body of literature assessing the geography of FF outlets, especially in association with overweight and obesity Most of the studies have found a positive association between availability of FF outlets and increasing deprivation
Summary
One of the factors implicated in the obesity epidemic is the availability of inexpensive and unhealthy food. Children ate 300% more food from restaurants and Fast Food outlets in 1996 than in. This may be due to several changes such as two parents working so less time to cook for family, relatively cheap Fast Food and food advertising [3]. The Fast Food and takeaway market in the UK was worth £8.9 billion in 2005 with predictions of steady 5% annual increases likely [4].The birth of the Fast Food (Fast Food) restaurant and the exponential growth of that industry almost parallels the obesity epidemic, certainly in the western world [5,6]
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