Abstract
Background
Food shopping behaviors may help determine how local food environments influence fruit
and vegetable (F/V) intake, especially among food insecure households.
Objective
To examine whether household food security, food access, and food shopping behaviors
are associated with F/V intake among residents of a low-income neighborhood.
Design
Study design is cross-sectional.
Participants/setting
A simple random sample of 451 adults from a low-income neighborhood in Montreal (Canada)
were recruited through telephone interviews in 2014. Final analyses included 417 participants.
Main outcome measures
Validated assessment tools were applied to measure F/V intake and to distinguish food
secure (FS) from food insecure (FI) participants. Neighborhood food access was calculated
according to number of food stores within 0.5 miles of road network buffer of participants’
homes. Self-reported food shopping behaviors included trip frequency, store types,
and transport used to reach the 3 most frequented stores. Participants also reported
on mobility constraints, use of F/V markets, gardening, and perceived access to healthy
food.
Statistical analyses
F/V intake was modeled using multivariable linear regression.
Results
A sample of adults, of whom 21.3% were living in FI households, reported consuming
F/V an average of 4.1 times daily. FI participants had a lower intake of F/V (b = −0.69,
P = .04), independent of sociodemographics, food access, resource constraints, perceived
access to healthy food, and food shopping behaviors. Participants with mobility constraints
had lower F/V intake (b = −0.68, P = .02), while gardening was associated with higher F/V intake (b = 0.59, P = .01). Number of supermarkets (b = −0.06, P = .03) and specialty stores (b = 0.10, P = .04) were associated with F/V intake, although the strength of the association
was weak.
Conclusions
For FI households, barriers to food access linked to financial challenges are associated
with lower intake of F/V. Studies on food environment should include people’s experience
of food access to better understand the numerous barriers to F/V consumption faced
by FI households.
Keywords
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Biography
C. Drisdelle is a graduate from the Département de nutrition, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Biography
G. Mercille is an assistant professor, Département de nutrition, and the WHO Collaborating Centre on Nutrition Changes and Development, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Biography
Y. Kestens is an associate professor, Département de médecine sociale et préventive, École de Santé Publique, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Biography
A.-M. Hamelin is an associate director, 4P Training Program, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 25, 2020
Accepted:
March 25,
2020
Received:
July 10,
2019
Footnotes
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT This study was supported by a grant from the Programme de subvention en santé publique 2013-2015 (#PSSP 3157-2014-2016(4)). C. Drisdelle was financially supported by the Canada Graduate Scholarship—Master’s Program from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Département de nutrition. Y. Kestens holds a CIHR Chair in Applied Public Health on Urban Interventions and Population Health.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS G. Mercille and A.-M. Hamelin contributed to conception of the study and funding acquisition. G. Mercille supervised data collection. C. Drisdelle, G. Mercille, and Y. Kestens formulated the research question of the present study, performed data analyses and interpreted the data. C. Drisdelle wrote the manuscript. All authors assisted with data interpretation and contributed to editing the manuscript. G. Mercille had primary responsibility for final content.
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