Food Availability in Different Food Environments Surrounding Schools in a Vulnerable Urban Area of Santiago, Chile: Exploring Socioeconomic Determinants
Journal
Foods
ISSN
2304-8158
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Jacqueline Araneda Flores
Claudio Álvarez
Mónica Suárez-Reyes
José Luis Palacios
Tito Pizarro Quevedo
Maria Rita Marques de Oliveira
Type
Resource Types::text::journal::journal article
URL Institutional Repository
Abstract
<jats:p>The analysis of the food environment is used to identify areas with gaps in the availability of healthy foods and can be used as a public policy assessment tool. In recent decades, Chile has implemented several strategies and regulations to improve food environments, with encouraging results. Little is known about the scope of these measures in socially vulnerable environments. This study is part of a project that seeks to build an integrated intervention model for healthy school environments in a vulnerable area of Santiago, Chile. The objective of this study was to evaluate the availability of healthy and unhealthy foods around schools and the relationship between it and socioeconomic determinants of the school community in the Chilean context. A cross-sectional study to measure the food environment of informal markets (street food), formal markets (stores), and institutions (schools) was conducted in and around 12 schools (100 m surrounding schools) in a vulnerable urban area of Santiago, Chile. A lack of healthy foods was observed, which was related to some socio-economic determinants and the multidimensional poverty was the most relevant. The diagnosis of food environments around schools can represent an important target for governments to implement policies focused at improving the availability of healthy foods.</jats:p>
Subjects
school food environments
;
healthy foods
;
unhealthy foods
;
multidimensional poverty
;
polices