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Food Availability en Route to School and Anthropometric Change in Urban Children

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Abstract

This study examined food availability along children’s paths to and from elementary school, and associations with change in body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference over 1 year. Secondary data from 319 children aged 8–13 years from the “Multiple Opportunities to Reach Excellence” Project was used. Child anthropometry and demographic variables were obtained at baseline (2007) and 1 year follow-up. Food outlet locations (n = 1,410) were obtained from the Baltimore City Health Department and validated by ground-truthing. Secondary data on healthy food availability within select food stores in Baltimore City in 2007 were obtained via a validated food environment assessment measure, the Nutrition Environments Measures Study. Multilevel models were used to examine associations between availability of healthy food and number of various food outlets along paths to school and child anthropometric change over 1 year. Controlling for individual-, neighborhood-, and school-level characteristics, results indicated that higher healthy food availability within a 100 m buffer of paths to school was associated with 0.15 kg/m2 lower BMI gain (p = 0.015) and 0.47 cm smaller waist circumference gain (p = 0.037) over 1 year. Although prior research has illuminated the importance of healthy food choices within school and home environments, the current study suggests that exposure to the food environment along paths to school should be further explored in relation to child health outcomes.

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Notes

  1. A 0.15 kg/m2 difference in BMI is approximately 0.5 lb per year for the average 9 year old and 0.7 lb per year for the average 12 year old, though these estimates would vary by sex, height, and age.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Sara Bleich for her comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. The authors also acknowledge the support and cooperation of the Baltimore City Public School System and our partner schools, students, parents, teachers, and administrators. Support and funding for the MORE Project comes from a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to M. Cooley (1R01 DA018318). This work was also funded in part by a grant from Active Living Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to K. Pollack.

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Author notes

  1. Lauren M. Rossen

    Present address: Analysis and Epidemiology, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3311 Toledo Rd, Room 6114, Hyattsville, MD, 20782, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health and the Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Frank C. Curriero

  2. Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Michele Cooley-Strickland

  3. Center for Culture and Health, Department of Psychiatry, NPI-Semel Institute for Neuroscience, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Box 62, Los Angeles, MD, 90024, USA

    Michele Cooley-Strickland

  4. Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N Broadway, Baltimore, MA, 21205, USA

    Keshia M. Pollack

Authors
  1. Lauren M. Rossen
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  2. Frank C. Curriero
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  3. Michele Cooley-Strickland
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  4. Keshia M. Pollack
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lauren M. Rossen.

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Rossen, L.M., Curriero, F.C., Cooley-Strickland, M. et al. Food Availability en Route to School and Anthropometric Change in Urban Children. J Urban Health 90, 653–666 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9785-4

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