Associations between Exposure to Unhealthy Food Outlets Within Residential District and Obesity: Using Data from 2013 Census on Establishments and 2013-2014 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
10.5720/kjcn.2016.21.5.463
- Author:
Yoonjung KIM
1
;
Sung Nim HAN
Author Information
1. Division of Health and Nutrition Survey, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cheongju-si, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Unhealthy food outlets;
food environment;
obesity;
Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey;
Census on Establishments
- MeSH:
Adult;
Censuses*;
Chickens;
Eating;
Geographic Locations;
Humans;
Korea*;
Logistic Models;
Nutrition Surveys*;
Obesity*;
Prevalence;
Red Meat;
Residence Characteristics;
Restaurants;
Snacks;
Sodium;
Vitamin A
- From:Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
2016;21(5):463-476
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVES: Environmental, social and personal factors influence eating patterns. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between unhealthy food outlets within a residential area and obesity using nationally representative Korean survey data and data from the Census on Establishments. METHODS: Data on the food intakes and socioeconomic variables of a total of 9,978 adults aged ≥ 19 years were obtained from the 2013-2014 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Geographic locations of restaurants were obtained from the 2013 Census on Establishments in Korea. Administrative area was categorized into tertiles of count of unhealthy food outlets based on the distribution of number of unhealthy food outlets among all urban (Dong) and rural (Eup or Myun) administrative districts in Korea. Multilevel logistic regressions model were used to assess the association between the number of unhealthy food outlets and obesity. RESULTS: People living in the district with the highest count of unhealthy food outlets had higher intakes of fat (45.8 vs. 44.4 g/day), sodium (4,142.6 vs. 3,949.8 mg/day), and vitamin A (753.7 vs. 631.6 µgRE/day) compared to those living in the district with the lowest count of unhealthy food outlets. A higher count of unhealthy food outlets was positively associated with frequent consumption of instant noodles, pizza, hamburgers and sandwiches, sweets and sour pork or pork cutlets, fried chicken, snacks, and cookies. Higher exposure to unhealthy food outlets was associated with increased odds of obesity (1st vs. 3rd tertile; OR 1.689; 95% CI 1.098-2.599). CONCLUSIONS: A high count of unhealthy food outlets within a residential area is positively associated with the prevalence of obesity in Korea. The results suggest that food environmental factors affects the health outcomes and interventions aiming to restrict the availability of unhealthy food outlets in local neighborhoods may be a useful obesity prevention strategy.
