Measures of the food environment: A systematic review of the field, 2007-2015.

Health Place

Department of Health Behavior, Campus Box 7440, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440, United States.

Published: March 2017


Category Ranking

98%

Total Visits

921

Avg Visit Duration

2 minutes

Citations

20

Article Abstract

Background: Many studies have examined the relationship between the food environment and health-related outcomes, but fewer consider the integrity of measures used to assess the food environment. The present review builds on and makes comparisons with a previous review examining food environment measures and expands the previous review to include a more in depth examination of reliability and validity of measures and study designs employed.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of studies measuring the food environment published between 2007 and 2015. We identified these articles through: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Global Health databases; tables of contents of relevant journals; and the National Cancer Institute's Measures of the Food Environment website. This search yielded 11,928 citations. We retained and abstracted data from 432 studies.

Results: The most common methodology used to study the food environment was geographic analysis (65% of articles) and the domination of this methodology has persisted since the last review. Only 25.9% of studies in this review reported the reliability of measures and 28.2% reported validity, but this was an improvement as compared to the earlier review. Very few of the studies reported construct validity. Studies reporting measures of the school or worksite environment have decreased since the previous review. Only 13.9% of the studies used a longitudinal design.

Conclusions: To strengthen research examining the relationship between the food environment and population health, there is a need for robust and psychometrically-sound measures and more sophisticated study designs.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2016.12.007DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

food environment
32
previous review
12
environment
9
review
9
measures
8
measures food
8
systematic review
8
relationship food
8
study designs
8
review studies
8

Similar Publications

The ability of parasitoid wasps to precisely locate hosts in complex environments is a key factor in suppressing pest populations. Chemical communication plays an essential role in mediating insect behaviors such as locating food sources, hosts, and mates. Odorant receptors (ORs) are the key connection between external odors and olfactory nerves.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Bioactive Coatings for Cardiovascular Stents: Modulating Immune Response for Enhanced Performance.

ACS Biomater Sci Eng

September 2025

University Center for Research & Development (UCRD), Chandigarh University, NH-05 Chandigarh-Ludhiana Highway, Mohali 140413, Punjab, India.

Cardiovascular disorders remain a leading cause of death worldwide, and the use of contemporary stents is paving the way for a profound shift in the field of cardiology. In the surgical process postimplantation, the graft or stent and host-immune interaction play a significant role in the healing process, thus it is a major challenge in healthcare. To address these challenges, recent advancements have introduced bioactive coatings with specialized modifications in stents to enhance their interaction with surrounding environment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Wetlands and their aquatic arthropods are threatened by climate change (temperature, precipitation). In this review, we first synthesize the literature on environmental controls on wetland arthropods (hydroperiod, temperature, dissolved oxygen) and then assess how these controls operate across freshwater wetlands from different global biomes (tropical/subtropical, temperate, high latitude/altitude, and dry climates) and how changes in climates alter arthropod fauna with consequent modifications to wetland ecosystem functions (decomposition, food web dynamics). We also describe ways to develop bioassessment of climate change impacts on wetlands.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sleep deprivation (SD) is a major contributor to cognitive impairment, often accompanied by central neuroinflammation and gut microbiota dysbiosis. The tryptophan (TRP) pathway, activated via indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), serves as a critical link between immune activation and neuronal damage. Umbelliferone (UMB), a naturally occurring coumarin compound, possesses anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and microbiota-modulating properties.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Wheat, a significant source of protein, can also induce various wheat-related allergic reactions (WRARs). Statistical data show significant spatiotemporal and geographical variations in the prevalence of WRARs. Studies reveal that hexaploid wheat exhibits notably higher allergenicity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF