The hidden imbalance in neighbourhood nutrition environment: a perspective from lower-middle-income country setting.

Abstract

Neighbourhood environment plays a pivotal role in determining the individual's nutrition through availability and accessibility of healthy food options. This community-based cross-sectional descriptive study examined neighbourhood spatial attributes using Geographical Information System (GIS) and describe perceived nutrition environment among adult residents in urban Puducherry, India. The density of grocery shops, fruits and vegetable shops, food outlets and restaurants were 64.4, 74.8 and 88.7 per km², respectively. Out of 200 participants, 191 (95.5%) and 190 (95%) reported easy accessibility to fruits and vegetables shops and restaurants, respectively, while 192 (96%) agreed on availability of unhealthy food options in shops. Current study provides framework for assessment of objective and perceived neighbourhood nutrition environment in lower-middle-income countries with a user-friendly and easily administrable tool.