Associations of the consumer food environment with eating behaviours and BMI

Objective: To examine cross-sectional associations of four aspects of the consumer food environment - price, availability, marketing and product placement - with BMI and fruit and vegetable intake. Design: This cross-sectional study measured the consumer food environment using grocery store audits and surveys. Outcomes were measured through surveys and physical exams. Multivariable linear regression models were run; models were all adjusted for age, neighbourhood, education, race/ethnicity and financial burden. Setting: Non-proportional quota sample of four socio-economically and racial/ethnically diverse neighbourhoods in Chicago, IL. Participants: Women (n 228) aged 18-44 years. Results: Participants who reported seeing healthy food marketing had a higher vegetable intake (ß = 0·24, 95 % CI 0·06, 0·42). There was some suggestive evidence that participants who shopped at stores that were more expensive (ß = -0·90, 95 % CI -1·94, 0·14) had lower BMI, but this association was not statistically significant. Multivariable regression models did not indicate any significant association between any measure of the consumer food environment and fruit intake. Conclusions: Our findings add to the growing interest in the role of the consumer food environment in health behaviours. Further research is needed to better understand the role of price and marketing characteristics on eating behaviours and BMI.