The retail food environment (RFE) has a significant impact on people’s
dietary behavior and diet-related outcomes. Although RFE research has received a lot of attention, there are very few studies that shed light on
the foodscape
and assessment methodologies in the China context. Based on open data obtained
from Dianping.com and AutoNavi map, we classified all food outlets into six
types. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques were employed to create
two network buffer areas (1-km and 3-km) and calculate the absolute measures
and relative measures (i.e., mRFEI and Rmix). We modified the calculation ofrelative measures by adding items and assigning weights. The mean mRFEI using the 1-km and 3-km buffer
sizes across the communities were 10.45 and 20.12, respectively, while the mean mRmix of the two buffer sizes were 20.97 and 58.04, indicating that residents in
Wuhan have better access to fresh and nutritious food within 3-km network
buffers. Residents in urban areas are more likely to be exposed to an unhealthy
food environment than those in rural areas. Residents in Xinzhou and Qiaokou
districts are more likely to be subjected to unfavorable neighborhood
RFE. The open data-driven methods for assessing RFE in Wuhan, China may guide community-level food policy
interventions and promote active living by shifting built environments to
increase residents’ access to healthy food.
References
[1]
Minaker, L. (2013) Measuring the Food Environment in Canada. Health Canada, Ottawa.
https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2013/sc-hc/H164-155-2012-eng.pdf
[2]
Mahendra, A., Polsky, J.Y., Robitaille, é., Lefebvre, M., McBrien, T. and Minaker, L.M. (2017) Status Report—Geographic Retail Food Environment Measures for Use in Public Health. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada, 10, 357-362. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.37.10.06
[3]
Rideout, K., Mah, C.L. and Minaker, L. (2015) Food Environments: An Introduction for Public Health Practice. 7.
https://www.ncceh.ca/sites/default/files/Food_Environments_Public_Health_Practice_Dec_2015.pdf
[4]
Souza Oliveira, J., Cristina Egito de Menezes, R., Almendra, R., Israel Cabral de Lira, P., Barbosa de Aquino, N., Paula de Souza, N. and Santana, P. (2022) Unhealthy Food Environments That Promote Overweight and Food Insecurity in a Brazilian Metropolitan Area: A Case of a Syndemic? Food Policy, 112, Article ID: 102375.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2022.102375
[5]
Zick, C.D., Curtis, D.S., Meeks, H., Smith, K.R., Brown, B.B., Kole, K. and Kowaleski-Jones, L. (2023) The Changing Food Environment and Neighborhood Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes. SSM—Population Health, 21, Article ID: 101338.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101338
[6]
Stevenson, A.C., Colley, R.C., Dasgupta, K., Minaker, L.M., Riva, M., Widener, M.J. and Ross, N.A. (2022) Associations between Neighbourhood Fast-Food Environments and Hypertension in Canadian Adults. International Journal of Population Data Science, 7, 306. https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v7i3.2082
[7]
Haynes-Maslow, L. and Leone, L.A. (2017) Examining the Relationship between the Food Environment and Adult Diabetes Prevalence by County Economic and Racial Composition: An Ecological Study. BMC Public Health, 17, Article No. 648.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4658-0
[8]
Hilmers, A., Hilmers, D.C. and Dave, J. (2012) Neighborhood Disparities in Access to Healthy Foods and Their Effects on Environmental Justice. American Journal of Public Health, 102, 1644-1654. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300865
[9]
Stevenson, A.C. (2022) A Pan-Canadian Dataset of Neighbourhood Retail Food Environment Measures Using Statistics Canada’s Business Register. Health Reports, 33, 3-14.
[10]
Zhou, S., Cheng, Y., Cheng, L., Wang, D., Li, Q., Liu, Z. and Wang, H.-J. (2020) Association between Convenience Stores Near Schools and Obesity among School-Aged Children in Beijing, China. BMC Public Health, 20, Article No. 150.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-8257-0
[11]
Smith, L.G., Widener, M.J., Liu, B., Farber, S., Minaker, L.M., Patterson, Z., Larsen, K. and Gilliland, J. (2022) Comparing Household and Individual Measures of Access through a Food Environment Lens: What Household Food Opportunities Are Missed When Measuring Access to Food Retail at the Individual Level? Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 112, 542-562.
https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2021.1930513
[12]
Thornton, L.E., Lamb, K.E. and White, S.R. (2020) The Use and Misuse of Ratio and Proportion Exposure Measures in Food Environment Research. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 17, Article No. 118.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-020-01019-1
[13]
Daepp, M.I. and Black, J. (2017) Assessing the Validity of Commercial and Municipal Food Environment Data Sets in Vancouver, Canada. Public Health Nutrition, 20, 2649-2659. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980017001744
[14]
Fleischhacker, S.E., Evenson, K.R., Sharkey, J., Pitts, S.B.J. and Rodriguez, D.A. (2013) Validity of Secondary Retail Food Outlet Data. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 45, 462-473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2013.06.009
[15]
Gustafson, A.A., Lewis, S., Wilson, C. and Jilcott-Pitts, S. (2012) Validation of Food Store Environment Secondary Data Source and the Role of Neighborhood Deprivation in Appalachia, Kentucky. BMC Public Health, 12, Article No. 688.
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-688
[16]
Herrmann, T., Gleckner, W., Wasfi, R.A., Thierry, B., Kestens, Y. and Ross, N.A. (2019) A Pan-Canadian Measure of Active Living Environments Using Open Data. Health Reports, 30, 16-25. https://doi.org/10.25318/82-003-X201900500002-ENG
[17]
Powell, L.M., Han, E., Zenk, S.N., Khan, T., Quinn, C.M., Gibbs, K.P., Pugach, O., Barker, D.C., Resnick, E.A., Myllyluoma, J. and Chaloupka, F.J. (2011) Field Validation of Secondary Commercial Data Sources on the Retail Food Outlet Environment in the U.S. Health & Place, 17, 1122-1131.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2011.05.010
[18]
Kwate, N.O.A. and Loh, J.M. (2016) Fast Food and Liquor Store Density, Co-Tenancy, and Turnover: Vice Store Operations in Chicago, 1995-2008. Applied Geography, 67, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2015.11.021
[19]
Maguire, E.R., Burgoine, T., Penney, T.L., Forouhi, N.G. and Monsivais, P. (2017) Does Exposure to the Food Environment Differ by Socioeconomic Position? Comparing Area-Based and Person-Centred Metrics in the Fenland Study, UK. International Journal of Health Geographics, 16, Article No. 33.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12942-017-0106-8
[20]
Wilkins, E.L., Morris, M.A., Radley, D. and Griffiths, C. (2017) Using Geographic Information Systems to Measure Retail Food Environments: Discussion of Methodological Considerations and a Proposed Reporting Checklist (Geo-FERN). Health & Place, 44, 110-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.01.008
[21]
Goossensen, M., Garcia, X., Garcia-Sierra, M., Calvet-Mir, L. and Domene, E. (2023) The Role of Convenience Stores in Healthy Food Environments: The Case of Barcelona (Spain). Cities, 133, Article ID: 104118.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.104118
[22]
Zhang, H., Zhou, X., Tang, G., Xiong, L. and Dong, K. (2021) Mining Spatial Patterns of Food Culture in China Using Restaurant POI Data. Transactions in GIS, 25, 579-601. https://doi.org/10.1111/tgis.12682
[23]
Zhu, Y.-X., Huang, J., Zhang, Z.-K., Zhang, Q.-M., Zhou, T. and Ahn, Y.-Y. (2013) Geography and Similarity of Regional Cuisines in China. PLOS ONE, 8, e79161.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079161
[24]
Zhao, W.Z., Cai, L.Y., Jia, Z.W. and Shi, H.P. (2021) Analysis of Energy and Nutrients of Chinese Eight Cuisines Based on Cookbook. China Condiment, 46, 126-131. (In Chinese) https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1000-9973.2021.02.028
[25]
Kelly, B., Flood, V.M. and Yeatman, H. (2011) Measuring Local Food Environments: An Overview of Available Methods and Measures. Health & Place, 17, 1284-1293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2011.08.014
[26]
Luo, J., Chen, G., Li, C., et al. (2018) Use of an E2SFCA Method to Measure and Analyse Spatial Accessibility to Medical Services for Elderly People in Wuhan, China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15, Article No. 1503. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071503
[27]
Tang, N. and Sun, F. (2017) Shequ Construction and Service Development in Urban China: An Examination of the Shenzhen Model. Community Development Journal, 52, 10-20. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsw055
[28]
Papas, M.A., Alberg, A.J., Ewing, R., Helzlsouer, K.J., Gary, T.L. and Klassen, A.C. (2007) The Built Environment and Obesity. Epidemiologic Reviews, 29, 129-143.
https://doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxm009
[29]
Burns, C., Bentley, R., Thornton, L. and Kavanagh, A. (2011) Reduced Food Access Due to a Lack of Money, Inability to Lift and Lack of Access to a Car for Food Shopping: A Multilevel Study in Melbourne, Victoria. Public Health Nutrition, 14, 1017-1023. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136898001000385X
[30]
Coveney, J. and O’Dwyer, L.A. (2009) Effects of Mobility and Location on Food Access. Health & Place, 15, 45-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2008.01.010
[31]
Granheim, S.I., Lovhaug, A.L., Terragni, L., Torheim, L.E. and Thurston, M. (2022) Mapping the Digital Food Environment: A Systematic Scoping Review. Obesity Reviews, 23, e13356. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13356
[32]
Horta, P.M., Souza, J.D.P.M., Rocha, L.L. and Mendes, L.L. (2021) Digital Food Environment of a Brazilian Metropolis: Food Availability and Marketing Strategies Used by Delivery Apps. Public Health Nutrition, 24, 544-548.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980020003171
[33]
Kalbus, A., Ballatore, A., Cornelsen, L., Greener, R. and Cummins, S. (2023) Associations between Area Deprivation and Changes in the Digital Food Environment during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Analysis of Three Online Food Delivery Platforms. Health & Place, 80, Article ID: 102976.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.102976
[34]
Li, L. and Wang, D. (2022) Do Neighborhood Food Environments Matter for Eating through Online-to-Offline Food Delivery Services? Applied Geography, 138, Article ID: 102620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2021.102620
[35]
Wyse, R., Jackson, J.K., Delaney, T., Grady, A., Stacey, F., Wolfenden, L., Barnes, C., McLaughlin, M. and Yoong, S.L. (2021) The Effectiveness of Interventions Delivered Using Digital Food Environments to Encourage Healthy Food Choices: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients, 13, Article No. 2255.
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13072255
