Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Sep;18(5):1172-87.
doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2012.05.006. Epub 2012 May 31.

The local food environment and diet: a systematic review

Caitlin E Caspi  1 , Glorian Sorensen, S V Subramanian, Ichiro Kawachi
Affiliations

The local food environment and diet: a systematic review

Caitlin E Caspi et al. Health Place. 2012 Sep.

Abstract

Despite growing attention to the problem of obesogenic environments, there has not been a comprehensive review evaluating the food environment-diet relationship. This study aims to evaluate this relationship in the current literature, focusing specifically on the method of exposure assessment (GIS, survey, or store audit). This study also explores 5 dimensions of "food access" (availability, accessibility, affordability, accommodation, acceptability) using a conceptual definition proposed by Penchansky and Thomas (1981). Articles were retrieved through a systematic keyword search in Web of Science and supplemented by the reference lists of included studies. Thirty-eight studies were reviewed and categorized by the exposure assessment method and the conceptual dimensions of access it captured. GIS-based measures were the most common measures, but were less consistently associated with diet than other measures. Few studies examined dimensions of affordability, accommodation, and acceptability. Because GIS-based measures on their own may not capture important non-geographic dimensions of access, a set of recommendations for future researchers is outlined.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Unanswered challenges in the measurement of food environments
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Beydoun M, Powell L, Wang Y. The association of fast food, fruit and vegetable prices with dietary intakes among US adults: Is there modification by family income? Social Science & Medicine. 2008;66(11):2218–2229. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beydoun MA, Powell LM, Chen X, Wang Y. Food prices are associated with dietary quality, fast food consumption, and body mass index among U.S. children and adolescents. The Journal of Nutrition. 2011;141(2):304–311. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Black JL, Macinko J. Neighborhoods and obesity. Nutrition Reviews. 2008;66(1):2–20. - PubMed
    1. Bodor JN, Rose D, Farley TA, Swalm C, Scott SK. Neighbourhood fruit and vegetable availability and consumption: the role of small food stores in an urban environment. Public Health Nutrition. 2008;11(4):413–420. - PubMed
    1. Caldwell EM, Miller Kobayashi M, DuBow WM, Wytinck SM. Perceived access to fruits and vegetables associated with increased consumption. Public Health Nutrition. 2009;12(10):1743–1750. - PubMed

Publication types