Examination of the San Antonio Food Environment: Neighborhood and Food Insecurity Factors Associated with Fresh Food Intake of Overweight and Obese Latino Children

OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between neighborhood food access, home food insecurity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and body composition. STUDY DESIGN Descriptive cross-sectional study that utilized baseline data from the Health4Kids study (H4K). H4K was a randomized controlled trial that tested the effectiveness of a healthy lifestyle intervention with Hispanic families (n=120) living in San Antonio. METHODS The dependent measure was body composition: waist circumference and BMI(kg/m2) percentiles. The independent measures included densities of food stores at ½, 1, and 2-mile buffers around participants’ homes, environmental support for food, food insecurity, transportation for food, food shopping preference, generation, and fresh food consumption. Descriptive and logistic regressions conducted to assess relationships. FINDINGS H4K child participants were 8.9 (SD=1.61) years old and born in the United States (95.83%). Adjusted logistic regression results indicate the girls in the sample were less likely to be obese than the boys (OR=0.44 [95th CI:.19,.99; p:.05]) when controlling for generation, family income, and family size. Meeting the USDA daily vegetable recommendation was associated with a higher density of convenience stores at one-mile (OR=1.91, [95% CI: 1.02, 3.58], p:.04) when controlling for the child’s age and sex, generation, family income, family size. Central adiposity ( ≥ 85 percentile waist circumference) was associated with obesity ( ≥ 85 percentile BMI (kg/m2)]) (OR=49.35, [95% CI: 10.35, 235.16], p: .000) and generation (OR=2.09, [95% CI: 1.05, 4.17], p: .04). CONCLUSION Results indicate access to convenience stores within 1-mile was associated with meeting the daily USDA vegetable intake recommendation. This finding is contrary to literature related to food intake, obesity, and food access and worthy of additional investigation. Central adiposity was associated with obesity and a higher generation (3rd generation child; 2nd generation parent), consistent with the literature. Interventions and policy in the Latino community to increase access to fruit and vegetables at convenience stores may lead to an increase in fruit and vegetable intake and potentially influence Latino adolescent obesity rates.