Examining the Relationship between Food Environment, Food Choice, and Diet Quality in a Southeastern Metro County in the United States

Abstract

There has been a vast array of research examining food environment and its related influential factors. This body of research encompasses studies examining how individuals interact and how diet and food choice are influenced by the food environment, various methods and procedures in measuring the food environment, and its relationship with other health-related factors, among other topics. This current study contains an integrative literature review to explore the relationship between food environment, food choice, and diet. The Torraco checklist for integrative literature reviews was followed. The search for relevant literature was conducted using the search terms food environment, food choice, diet, and other relevant terms. Articles examining food environment and food choice, food environment and diet quality, and food choice and diet quality were reviewed. The review synthesizes findings from various studies and discusses challenges and variations in methodological practices. Prior literature has failed to explore the interconnection between food environment, food choice, and diet quality; warranting further inquiry. The third part of this study aims to further explain the relationship between food environment, food choice, and diet quality. An adapted NEMS-P and NEMS-S/CS was utilized to assess and compare individuals perceived and observed food environment, along with Steptoe’s Food Choice questionnaire, and diet quality measures. A logistic regression and crosstabulation were utilized to examine the relationship between perceived food environment, food choice, and diet quality. Maps were created via ArcGIS for the observed food environment. It was found that there is a relationship between some food environment and food choice measures and diet quality. The relationship between workplace and home food environment is also explored in the second part of this work. A questionnaire was used to measure the perceived food environment around the workplace and home and perceived diet quality. A logistic regression and crosstabulation were used to assess the relationship of workplace and home food environment on diet quality. Results revealed mixed findings, where fast-food outlets around the home but not the workplace were related to diet quality. These topics warrant further investigation by future research to better understand the relationship between food environment and related factors.