165 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Shopping for food: lessons from a London borough
Purpose – This paper aims to measure access to food in an inner London borough. Design/methodology/approach – There were six phases, which included designing food baskets, consultation with local residents and a shop survey. Recognising the cultural make-up of the borough food baskets and menus were developed for four key communities, namely: White British, Black Caribbean, Turkish, and Black African. Three areas were identified for the study and shopping hubs identified with a 500-metre radius from a central parade of shops. Findings – The findings paint an intricate web of interactions ranging from availability in shops to accessibility and affordability being key issues for some groups. It was found that in the areas studied there was availability of some key healthy items, namely fresh fruit and vegetables, but other items such as: fresh meat and poultry, fish, lower fat dairy foods, high fibre pasta and brown rice were not available. Access was found to be defined, by local people, as more extensive than just physical distance to/from shops – for many shopping was made more difficult by having to use taxis and inconvenient buses. Small shops were important in delivering healthy food options to communities in areas of deprivation and were judged to offer a better range and more appropriate food than the branches of the major supermarket chains. Research limitations/implications – The importance of monitoring the impact of shops and shop closures on healthy food availability is emphasised. From a policy perspective the findings suggest that approaches based on individual agency need to be balanced with upstream public health nutrition approaches in order to influence the options available. Originality/value – The paper is arguably the first to examine and dissect the issue of food availability and accessibility in the inner London borough in question, especially in the light of its proposed redevelopment for the London Olympics in 2012
Recommended from our members
Fish and chips with a side order of Trans fat: The nutrition implications of eating from fastfood outlets: a report on eating out in east London
Recommended from our members
The “School Foodshed”: schools and fast-food outlets in a London borough
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the location of fast-food outlets around secondary schools and the influence of fast-food availability on the food choices of school children in an inner-London borough.
Design/methodology/approach – A number of methods including: mapping of outlets relative to schools; sampling food; gathering data on secondary school food policies; observing food behaviour in fast food outlets and focus groups with young people. Findings were fed back to a committee consisting of representatives from nutrition, public health, planning services and local community groups.
Findings – There are concentrations of fast-food outlets near schools and students reported use of these, including “stories” of skipping lunch in order to save money and eat after school at these outlets. Food from fast-food outlets was high in fat, saturated fat and salt, but these are not the only source of high such foods, with many of the students reporting buying from shops near the school or on the way to or from school. At lunchtime food outlets were less likely to be used by school students in areas near schools that have a “closed gate” policy.
Research limitations/implications – The “snapshot” nature of the research limited what can be said about the food behaviours of the children outside school hours.
Practical implications – The local policy context requires action to improve both the food offered in schools and the immediate environment around the school in order to tackle fast-food and other competitive foods on offer outside the school.
Originality/value – This is one of the first studies in the UK to systematically map fast food outlets around schools and explore what might be done. This research shows how it is possible to link the findings of local research and develop local responses from both public health and local authority planning perspectives. The research moves away from a mere documenting of problems to devising integrated public health solutions. The findings show how public health and planning services can work together to the mutual benefit of each other
Recommended from our members
Sex-related dietary changes of Portuguese university students after migration to London, UK
Aim: To assess the changes in eating habits and food choice motives of Portuguese university students after migration to London, according to sex.
Methods: Fifty-five Portuguese university students (52.7% female) from 12 randomly selected London universities underwent a face-to-face interview. Trained interviewers administered a structured questionnaire comprising questions on socio-demographic characteristics, the frequency of consumption of selected food and beverage items, and the motives underlying food choices regarding Portugal and London practices.
Results: Some dietary changes occurred in both male and female Portuguese students such as a decrease in the intake of red meat, fish, pastries and vegetable soup, and an increase in the intake of hamburger and tea with milk. Men also reported a decrease in the intake of cheese, dairy desserts, eggs, smoked sausages, ham, sweet spreads, potatoes, rice and fresh fruit, and an increase in the intake of bacon. For women, the consumption frequency of chips and chocolate increased and of vegetables decreased. Regarding food choice, the motives related to food purchasing and preparation became more important after migration to London for both sexes. The importance of nutritional information for women and weight control for men also increased after migration.
Conclusions: A shift from a Mediterranean diet towards a more Western diet was observed after migration. Men were more likely to change their dietary habits whereas women were more likely to maintain. Food choice in London was greatly influenced by food purchasing and preparation
Recommended from our members
A Tale of two Cities: A study of access and attitudes to food in the Deepdale and Ingol areas of Preston
Recommended from our members
Access to healthy foods: Part I. Barriers to accessing healthy foods: Differentials by gender, social class, income and mode of transport
This paper examines the issues of access to food and the influences people face when shopping for a healthy food basket. It uses data from the Health Edu cation Authority's 1993 Health and Lifestyles Survey to examine the barriers people face in accessing a healthy diet. The main findings are that access to food is primarily determined by income, and this is in turn closely related to physical resources available to access healthy food. There is an associated class bias over access to sources of healthy food. The poor have less access to a car, find it harder to get to out-of-town shopping centres and thus are less able to carry and transport food in bulk. The majority of people shop in supermarkets as they report that local shops do not provide the services people demand and that food choice and quality are limited. In tackling food poverty and pro moting healthy eating, health promotion practice needs to address these struc tural issues as opposed to relying on psycho-social models of education based on the provision of information and choice
Recommended from our members
Food Retail and Distribution
This chapter examines the global food retail and distribution situation with a specific focus on supermarkets. We explore the power and control that supermarkets have over the food supply chain, not only control over consumers (culture, choice and health) but also the control that supermarket buying desks have over food that is grown and produced via contracts and contract specifications. We focus on the UK and Australia, two countries which present overlapping and contrasting case studies of opportunities and barriers to changes in food provision. We suggest that the likely future trends shaping grocery and supermarket expansion will come in the virtual world of internet ordering and delivery. Lastly, we recommend the need for food retail and distribution to shift away from a ‘productionist’ paradigm to an ecologically-integrated approach providing an opportunity to transform food retail and distribution towards a business model that is supportive of a healthy and sustainable food system
- …