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Association between distance to nearest supermarket and provision of fruits and vegetables in English nurseries

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Burgoine, THS 
Gallis, JA 
Benjamin Neelon, S 

Abstract

With 796,500 places available for children in England, pre-school nurseries could serve as an important setting for population-wide dietary intervention. It is critical to understand the determinants of healthy food provision in this setting, which may include access to food stores. This study examined the association between objective, GIS-derived supermarket proximity and fruit and vegetable serving frequency, using data from 623 English nurseries. Overall, 116 (18%) nurseries served fruits and vegetables infrequently ( < 2–3 times/week), but provision differed by supermarket proximity. In adjusted multivariable regression models, nurseries farthest from their nearest supermarket (Q5, 1.7–19.8 km) had 2.38 (95% CI 1.01–5.63) greater odds of infrequent provision. Our results suggest that supermarket access may be important for nurseries in meeting fruit and vegetable provision guidelines. We advance a growing body of international literature, for the first time linking the food practices of institutions to their neighbourhood food retail context.

Description

Keywords

childcare, nurseries, preschool, supermarket proximity, fruit and vegetable provision, geographic information systems, nutrition in Nurseries study, England

Journal Title

Health & Place

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1353-8292
1873-2054

Volume Title

46

Publisher

Elsevier
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (087636/Z/08/Z)
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/G007462/1)
Medical Research Council (MR/K023187/1)
Funding from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research [grant number ES/G007462/1], and the Wellcome Trust [grant number 087636/Z/08/Z], under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. TP was generously supported by a PhD studentship from Cambridge International Scholarship, a scheme funded by the Cambridge Commonwealth, European & International Trust.