Two Methods That Define the Scale of Obesogenic Environments: A Case Study of Lewiston–Auburn, Maine

Abstract

Food environments may contribute to obesity (be obesogenic). However, the number of people living in environments deemed obesogenic may be impacted by how distance to food sources is measured. This study, in Lewiston–Auburn, Maine (L-A), used an existing definition of obesogenic environment based on the ratio of unhealthy to healthy food stores within 800 m, 2010 census data, and visits to all food stores/restaurants to build a geographic information system (GIS). This GIS yielded the population and number of single-parent households living in areas deemed obesogenic when distance was measured by Euclidian distance and by road network distance. L-A had 82 fast food restaurants and 81 food stores. We found that 43% of L-A's 59 647 people lived in obesogneic environments when Euclidian distance was used but only 30% did so using road network distance. Single-parent households were at particular risk of living in obesogenic environments (P < .001, comparison by chi-square).