Dataset Information

Relative Density of Away from Home Food Establishments and Food Spend for 24,047 Households in England: A Cross-Sectional Study.

ABSTRACT: Eating away from home is a risk factor for poor diet quality and obesity. With an ever-increasing proportion of household food spend directed toward eating out, the proliferation of these food establishments may contribute to their use, a potential precursor to less healthy food choices and low overall diet quality. However few studies are conducted at the national level and across a range of away from home food sources. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between the density of away from home food establishments (e.g., restaurants, fast food outlets and cafés) and household spend on away from home food within a nationally representative sample for England, UK. A cross-sectional analysis of data from Wave 1 of the UK Household Longitudinal Survey (n = 24,047 adults aged ?19y) was conducted. Exposure was characterised as the density of away from home food establishments to all other food sources within 1 mile of the home, divided into quintiles (Q1 as lowest exposure and Q5 as highest exposure). The primary outcome included households with a high away from home equivalised monthly food spend (?25% of total food spend). Logistic regression was used to estimate associations between away from home food establishment exposure and high away from home food spend. Away from home food establishment density was significantly associated with a greater odds of high monthly food spend (Q3: OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.07, 1.30; Q4: OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.18, 1.43; and Q5: OR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.37, 1.68) with attenuation after controlling for known socioeconomic confounders (Q4: OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.02, 1.25; and Q5: OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.30) compared to those least exposed (Q1). Those most exposed to away from home food establishments had a 16% greater odds of allocating more than 25% of household food spend on away from home food sources. This study provides one of the first analyses at the national level to examine the role of the local food environment in relation to household food spend, a potential precursor to diet quality and health.

SUBMITTER: Penney TL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6313448 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Relative Density of Away from Home Food Establishments and Food Spend for 24,047 Households in England: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Penney Tarra L TL Burgoine Thomas T Monsivais Pablo P

International journal of environmental research and public health 20181211 12

Eating away from home is a risk factor for poor diet quality and obesity. With an ever-increasing proportion of household food spend directed toward eating out, the proliferation of these food establishments may contribute to their use, a potential precursor to less healthy food choices and low overall diet quality. However few studies are conducted at the national level and across a range of away from home food sources. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between the densit ...[more]

PMID: 30544957

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Project description:BackgroundFood away from home (FAFH) in the US is associated with adverse health outcomes, and food dollars spent on FAFH continues to increase. FAFH studies have typically focused on restaurants and carryout establishments, but mobile food vendors - popularly known in the US as food trucks - have become more numerous and are an understudied segment of FAFH. The objective of this study was to assess mobile food vendors, their attitudes toward health and nutrition, and the foods they serve.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study of 41 mobile food vendors in Michigan, US. The survey contained questions about food and nutrition attitudes, such as barriers to putting healthy items on menus and perceived agreement with healthy food preparation practices. Participants were classified into a healthy and a less healthy attitude group based on whether they believed healthy menu items could be successful or not. In addition, participant menus were collected and analyzed according to whether menu items were healthy, moderately healthy, or unhealthy. Descriptive, univariate, and bivariate analyses were conducted.ResultsTwo-thirds of the participants felt that healthy menu items could be successful, and yet taste and value were the most important menu item success factors, each rated as important by 100% of the participants. Low consumer demand was the biggest barrier to putting healthy items on the menu (76%) whereas lack of chef interest (29%) and need for special training (24%) were the smallest. 72% of the vendors offered at least one healthy menu item, but only 20% of all reviewed menu items were healthy overall. There was no difference in the proportion of menu items that were healthy when comparing those with healthy attitudes (23% of menu items healthy) to those less healthy attitudes (17% of menu items healthy, p = 0.349).ConclusionsMobile food vendors had positive views about putting healthy items on menus. However, a low proportion of menu items were classified as healthy. This suggests that mobile food vendors are promising potential public health partners in improving the health profile of FAFH, but that education of vendors is needed to ensure the success of healthier items.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Modifying a household's food environment by targeting a single retailer type, like supermarkets, has a limited impact on dietary outcomes. This may be because the food environment has a limited impact on shopping behaviors, or because households are not as reliant on supermarkets as we assume. However, our understanding of how households shop for food, especially when considering the use of both food at home (FAH) retailers, such as supermarkets, and away from home retailers (FAFH), such as restaurants, is limited. Thus, understanding how households shop for food is a necessary first step when developing programs to modify food purchasing behavior. METHODS:K-means cluster analysis was used to identify weekly food shopping trip patterns based on the percentage of trips to FAH and FAFH retailers in the 2013 Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) dataset (n?=?4665 households). Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between shopping trip patterns, household and food environment characteristics. RESULTS:Three patterns emerged: primarily supermarket, primarily supercenter, or mix (i.e. no dominant retailer type, but high FAFH use). Households with incomes below 185% of the federal poverty line were evenly divided between patterns that rely primarily on FAH retailers, and the mix pattern. While nearly 70% of households with incomes above 185% of the federal poverty line are in the mix cluster. Supermarket and superstore availability significantly influenced the likelihood of belonging to those clusters respectively, while having a child, higher income, and attitudes towards healthy meal preparation time or taste significantly influenced the likelihood of belonging to the mix cluster. CONCLUSION:Although lower-income households are more likely to rely primarily on FAH retailers, household's, regardless of income, that primarily utilize FAH retailers show a strong preference for either superstores or supermarkets suggesting a need for interventions to reach both retailer types. However, altering the food environment alone may not be sufficient to discourage use of FAFH retailers as households relying on FAFH retailers are significantly influenced by meal preparation time and healthy food taste.

Dataset Information

Relative Density of Away from Home Food Establishments and Food Spend for 24,047 Households in England: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Publications

Relative Density of Away from Home Food Establishments and Food Spend for 24,047 Households in England: A Cross-Sectional Study.

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