Oral

Obesity and diet-related diseases are leading causes of morbidity and premature mortality in this country, and disproportionately affect low-income, and minority communities. In such communities, characteristics of local food environments such as the availability and accessibility of different foods may be particularly important influences on residents’ dietary behaviors and health. Public-health researchers have increasingly investigated how different aspects of local food environments may relate to dietary behaviors and health outcomes using methods incorporating spatial statistics and mapping technologies. These methods allow investigators to identify areas of greatest concern in terms of food, diet, and disease disparities. In this session, speakers will explore statistical and spatial relationships between a variety of foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables, and fast foods), food sources (e.g. grocery stores, soup kitchens, food pantries, and restaurants), dietary behaviors (e.g. soda consumption and produce consumption), neighborhood characteristics (e.g. socioeconomic position, urbanicity, and ethnicity) and/or health outcomes (e.g. obesity and diabetes) in communities throughout the US (i.e. Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, California, and Minnesota). Speakers will make use of both self-report data (from various health surveys) as well as objective measures (from commercial datasets, the U.S. Census, Women Infants and Children [WIC], and other secondary sources) to make the case for more equitable distribution of healthy foods, and to suggest approaches to achieve this end.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe spatial and statistical relationships between foods or food sources and dietary behaviors or disease in US communities 2. Discuss the limitations of existing food-environment data sources 3. Explain the potential importance of food environments both around homes and schools 4. Discuss possible policy options to improve the availability and accessibility of healthy food in low-income and minority areas

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)