The influence of the local food environment on diet following residential relocation: Longitudinal results from RESIDential Environments (RESIDE)

Objective:To examine the associations of changes in the local food environment, individual behaviours and perceptions with changes in dietary intake, following relocation from an established neighbourhood to a new residential development.Design:Spatial food environment exposure measures were generated relative to each participant's home address using the locations of food outlets at baseline (before moving house) and follow-up (1-2 years after relocation). Self-reported data on socio-demographics, self-selection, usual dietary intake, individual behaviours and perceptions of the local food environment were sourced from the RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) Project. Changes in spatial exposure measures, individual behaviours and perceptions with changes in dietary outcomes were examined using mixed linear models.Setting:Perth, Western Australia, 2003-2007.Participants:Adults (n 1200) from the RESIDE Project.Results:Moving to a new residential development with more convenience stores and café restaurants around the home was significantly associated with an increase in unhealthy food intake (β = 0·049, 95 % CI 0·010, 0·089; β = 0·020, 95 % CI 0·007, 0·033) and was partially mediated by individual behaviours and perceptions. A greater percentage of healthy food outlets around the home following relocation was significantly associated with an increase in healthy food (β = 0·003, 95 % CI 0·001, 0·005) and fruit/vegetable intake (β = 0·002, 95 % CI 0·001, 0·004).Conclusions:Policy and planning may influence dietary intakes by restricting the number of convenience stores and other unhealthy food outlets and increasing the relative percentage of healthy food outlets.