Introduction
Few U.S. adolescents meet physical activity guidelines. Although several neighborhood
characteristics influence physical activity, the role of food-related features as
potential drivers of adolescent physical activity remains understudied. Using representative
U.S. data, authors examined the effect of the neighborhood food environment on adolescents’
out-of-school physical activity.
Methods
The Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) study was conducted in
2014. Secondary data analysis occurred in 2018. Multinomial logistic regression models
examined associations between neighborhood availability of (1) convenience store;
(2) supermarket; (3) farmer's market; (4) fast food; (5) non–fast food restaurant
and adolescent out-of-school physical activity (tertile-based, low as referent). An
additional association between a total aggregate neighborhood food environment score
was assessed.
Results
Final analytic sample was 1,384 adolescents (mean age=14.5 years, SD=1.6). Controlling
for free/reduced-price lunch, age, sex, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood physical
activity and social environments, the aggregate food environment score was significantly
associated with high physical activity (versus low tertile; OR=1.2, 95% CI=1.1, 1.3).
Most individual categories of food retail outlets were significantly and directly
associated with out-of-school moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity in
the single food environment variable models. However, when fully adjusting for all
food retail outlet categories plus confounders, they were no longer significant.
Conclusions
The availability of a diverse combination of retail food destinations within walking
distance from home may provide opportunities for adolescents to achieve more physical
activity, likely because of transport-based physical activity. Pending future research,
these findings suggest that the role of the food environment on health extends beyond
its influence on dietary behaviors to other health behaviors like physical activity.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 16, 2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
