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Food environments: measuring, mapping, monitoring and modifying

Increasing access to healthy and affordable foods in communities is an identified priority of national health agendas in a number of countries. Arguably, however, understanding of the particular food access and environmental exposures most important for a healthy diet among different populations remains incomplete. The empirical investigation of food environments important for diet and health is a relatively young but burgeoning field. Six years ago, in November 2007, the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other National Institutes of Health centres, convened a workshop aimed at identifying the knowledge gaps and future research needs with regard to measures of food (and physical activity) environments. Key outcomes of that meeting included advocacy for refinements in conceptual models linking food environments with dietary and health outcomes; and for the advancement of methodologies and measurements of food environmental exposures, including tailoring for communities with particular need (e.g. low income, ethnic minorities). Since then, research into food environments and their impact on eating and health has expanded dramatically. Despite this, findings are far from consistent and many questions remain concerning how, why and for whom environmental factors impact on food purchasing and consumption and associated health outcomes. Efforts to advocate for environmentally focused policies and programmes to improve diet, or to counter environmental initiatives that might contribute to poor diet, have at times floundered as a result. Yet solid evidence is particularly important in this field given that environmental and policy changes are often difficult and expensive to leverage. This issue of Public Health Nutrition includes a selection of papers reporting on investigations into various aspects of the food environment or ‘foodscapes’ which contribute to addressing the key conceptual and methodological needs raised at the NCI workshop. In the broader food environment literature, environments have been conceptualised at the community (e.g. the type and location of food retail facilities), consumer (e.g. the availability, price, quality of foods within a facility), organisational (e.g. food sources within schools and worksites) and information (e.g. the media and advertising) levels; all four of these are considered in this issue. Across these domains, the papers can be broadly considered as assessing measurement issues; mapping and describing food environments; and linking environmental exposures with diet.