Examination of neighborhood factors associated with diet and physical activity among African American Men, 50 years and older

Background:  Neighborhood and community level factors have been shown to be associated with certain health outcomes among African Americans.  Few studies have examined how neighborhood factors are associated with African American men’s health behaviors.  The objective of the current study was to examine how neighborhood characteristics are associated with fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity among African American men 50 years and older. 

Methods:Participants were drawn from a cancer screening and physical activity intervention.  Participants were 151 African American men aged 52-99 years, living in urban counties of NC who were assessed by questionnaire and geocoded address information.  The following neighborhood characteristics were examined for this analysis, racial residential segregation, education, and poverty.  Physical activity was measured by examining, metabolic equivalent task (MET) hours. Fruit and vegetable consumption was measured using a 13 item NCI fruit and vegetable screener which  assessed frequency and portion size of consumed fruit and vegetable.  Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to determine bivariate relationships among variables, while adjusting for individual level factors.

Results: Racial residential segregation was not associated with fruit and vegetable consumption, but was positively associated with physical activity (1.347 p=.002).  Neighborhood education was not associated with fruit and vegetable consumption nor physical activity.  While neighborhood poverty was not associated with physical activity, it was significantly associated with lower levels of fruit and vegetable consumption (β=-.065, p<.05)

Conclusion: Both neighborhood poverty and neighborhood racial composition were associated with physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption for African American men. Future research should be conducted to determine the pathways by which racial residential segregation influences physical activity and neighborhood poverty influeces fruit and vegetable consumption for African American men.  Understandinging  these pathways can help to inform gender-specific interventions that focus on the social environment.