Children's fruit and vegetable intake: Associations with the neighbourhood food environment

Objective. To examine associations between availability of different types of food outlets and children's fruit and vegetable intake. Method. Parents of 340 5-6 and 461 10-12 year-old Australian children reported how frequently their child ate 14 fruits and 13 vegetables in the last week in 2002/3. A geographic information system (GIs) was used to determine the availability of the following types of food outlets near home: greengrocers; supermarkets; convenience stores; fast food outlets; restaurants, cafes and takeaway outlets. Logistic regression analyses examined the likelihood of consuming fruit >= 2 times/day and vegetables >= 3 times/day, according to access to food outlets. Results. Overall, 62.5% of children ate fruit >= 2 times/day and 46.4% ate vegetables >= 3 times/day. The more fast food outlets (OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.67-0.99) and convenience stores (OR = 0.84, 95%CI = 0.73-0.98) close to home, the lower the likelihood of consuming fruit >= 2 times/day. There was also an inverse association between density of convenience stores and the likelihood of consuming vegetables >= 3 times/day (OR = 0.84, 95%CI = 0.74-0.95). The likelihood of consuming vegetables >= 3 times/day was greater the farther children lived from a supermarket (OR = 1.27, 95%CI = 1.07-1.51) or a fast food outlet (OR = 1.19, 95%CI = 1.06-1.35). Conclusion. Availability of fast food outlets and convenience stores close to home may have a negative effect on children's fruit and vegetable intake. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.