Gittelsohn Joel, Sharma Sangita
Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205-2179, USA.
Am J Prev Med. 2009 Apr;36(4 Suppl):S161-5. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2009.01.007.
Obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases are directly related to the food environment. We describe how to better assess the food environment in specific ethnic minority settings for designing and implementing interventions, based on a review of our previous work on the food environment in American Indian reservations, Canadian First Nations reserves, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and inner-city Baltimore. The types of food stores available within each setting and the range of healthy foods available varied greatly across these geographic regions. In all settings, proximity to food stores/supermarkets, cost, and limited availability of healthful foods were common features, which limited access to health-promoting food options. Features specific to each population should be considered in an assessment of the food environment, including physical (e.g., openness of stores, mix of types of food sources); consumer (e.g., adequacy of the food supply, seasonal factors); and social (e.g., inter-household food sharing, perceptions of food quality, language differences) aspects. The food environments common in low-income ethnic subpopulations require special focus and consideration due to the vulnerability of the populations and to specific and unique aspects of each setting.
肥胖及其他与饮食相关的慢性病与食物环境直接相关。基于我们此前在美国印第安人保留地、加拿大第一民族保留地、马绍尔群岛共和国以及巴尔的摩市中心开展的关于食物环境的研究，我们描述了如何在特定少数族裔环境中更好地评估食物环境，以便设计和实施干预措施。在这些地理区域内，每个环境中可用的食品店类型以及健康食品的种类差异很大。在所有环境中，靠近食品店/超市、成本以及健康食品供应有限都是常见特征，这限制了人们获得促进健康的食物选择。在评估食物环境时，应考虑每个群体的特定特征，包括物理方面（例如，店铺的开放性、食物来源类型的混合）；消费者方面（例如，食物供应的充足性、季节性因素）；以及社会方面（例如，家庭间食物共享、对食物质量的认知、语言差异）。由于低收入少数族裔亚群体的脆弱性以及每个环境的特定和独特方面，这些群体中常见的食物环境需要特别关注和考虑。
