Associations between online food outlet access and online food delivery service use amongst adults in the UK: a cross-sectional analysis of linked data
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Publication Date
2021-12Journal Title
BMC Public Health
ISSN
1471-2458
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
21
Issue
1
Number
1968
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Keeble, M., Adams, J., Vanderlee, L., Hammond, D., & Burgoine, T. (2021). Associations between online food outlet access and online food delivery service use amongst adults in the UK: a cross-sectional analysis of linked data. BMC Public Health, 21 (1. 1968) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11953-9
Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background</jats:title>
<jats:p>Online food delivery services facilitate ‘online’ access to food outlets that typically sell lenergy-dense nutrient-poor food. Greater online food outlet access might be related to the use of this purchasing format and living with excess bodyweight, however, this is not known. We aimed to investigate the association between aspects of online food outlet access and online food delivery service use, and differences according to customer sociodemographic characteristics, as well as the association between the number of food outlets accessible online and bodyweight.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>In 2019, we used an automated data collection method to collect data on all food outlets in the UK registered with the leading online food delivery service <jats:italic>Just Eat</jats:italic> (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 33,204). We linked this with contemporaneous data on food purchasing, bodyweight, and sociodemographic information collected through the International Food Policy Study (analytic sample <jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 3067). We used adjusted binomial logistic, linear, and multinomial logistic regression models to examine associations.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>Adults in the UK had online access to a median of 85 food outlets (IQR: 34–181) and 85 unique types of cuisine (IQR: 64–108), and 15.1% reported online food delivery service use in the previous week. Those with the greatest number of accessible food outlets (quarter four, 182–879) had 71% greater odds of online food delivery service use (OR: 1.71; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.68) compared to those with the least (quarter one, 0–34). This pattern was evident amongst adults with a university degree (OR: 2.11; 95% CI: 1.15, 3.85), adults aged between 18 and 29 years (OR: 3.27, 95% CI: 1.59, 6.72), those living with children (OR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.01; 3.75), and females at each level of increased exposure. We found no association between the number of unique types of cuisine accessible online and online food delivery service use, or between the number of food outlets accessible online and bodyweight.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>The number of food outlets accessible online is positively associated with online food delivery service use. Adults with the highest education, younger adults, those living with children, and females, were particularly susceptible to the greatest online food outlet access. Further research is required to investigate the possible health implications of online food delivery service use.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
Sponsorship
Matthew Keeble was funded by the National Institute for Health Research
(NIHR) School for Public Health Research (SPHR) [grant number PD-SPH2015]. This work was supported by the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge [grant number MC/UU/00006/7]. Funding for the International Food Policy Study was provided by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant, with additional support from an International Health Grant, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and a CIHR–PHAC Applied Public Health Chair (David Hammond). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of any of the above named funders.
The funders had no role in the design of the study, or collection, analysis
and interpretation of the data, or in writing the manuscript.
Funder references
Medical Research Council (MR/K023187/1)
Department of Health (via National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)) (PD-SPH-2015-10029 BH154142)
MRC (MC_UU_00006/7)
Wellcome Trust (087636/Z/08/Z)
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/G007462/1)
Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12015/6)
Department of Health (via National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)) (unknown)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11953-9
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/330308
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