Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine if healthier neighbourhood food environments are associated with healthier diet quality.
Design: This was a cross-sectional study using linear regression models to analyse data from the Maastricht Study. Diet quality was assessed using data collected with a FFQ to calculate the Dutch Healthy Diet (DHD). A buffer zone encompassing a 1000 m radius was created around each participant home address. The Food Environment Healthiness Index (FEHI) was calculated using a Kernel density analysis within the buffers of available food outlets. The association between the FEHI and the DHD score was analysed and adjusted for socio-economic variables.
Setting: The region of Maastricht including the surrounding food retailers in the Netherlands.
Participants: 7367 subjects aged 40-75 years in the south of the Netherlands.
Results: No relationship was identified between either the FEHI (B = 0·62; 95 % CI = -2·54, 3·78) or individual food outlets, such as fast food (B = -0·07; 95 % CI = -0·20, 0·07) and diet quality. Similar null findings using the FEHI were identified at the 500 m (B = 0·95; 95 % CI = -0·85, 2·75) and 1500 m (B = 1·57; 95 % CI = -3·30, 6·44) buffer. There was also no association between the food environment and individual items of the DHD including fruits, vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages.
Conclusion: The food environment in the Maastricht area appeared marginally unhealthy, but the differences in the food environment were not related to the quality of food that participants reported as intake.
Keywords: Food environment; Health inequality; Nutrition; Socio-economic status; Spatial epidemiology.