The Physical Home Food Environment in Relation to Children's Diet Quality and Cardiometabolic Health.

Background: Home food availability has been identified as an important influence on dietary intake. Less is known about the relationship between the physical home food environment (HFE) and factors of cardiometabolic health in children.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the physical HFE and diet quality and factors of cardiometabolic health (eg, weight and blood biomarkers).

Design: This was a cross-sectional secondary analysis with 1 or more children per household.

Participants/setting: This study included 44 children aged 6 to 12 years from 29 households in the Newark, DE area between August 2020 and August 2021.

Main outcome measures: The Home Food Inventory provides an obesogenic score (ie, score indicative of the presence of energy-dense foods) for the overall HFE and HFE subcategories scores; body mass index z-scores were calculated using measured height and weight; diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index 2020 (HEI-2020) total scores; and cardiometabolic biomarkers were obtained from serum blood samples.

Statistical analyses performed: Unadjusted and adjusted linear mixed model regressions were used to test the association between the physical HFE and each of the outcome variables: body mass index z scores, HEI-2020 total scores, and cardiometabolic biomarkers. HFE subcategories (eg, fruits and vegetables) were also examined with each outcome using linear mixed model regression.

Results: Mean ± SD age of the children was 9.5 ± 1.9 years, 61.4% were female, 59.1% identified as White, and 90.9% were non-Hispanic. Obesogenic score was significantly associated with body mass index z scores (β = .03, P = .029), but not HEI-2020 total scores or cardiometabolic biomarkers. As HFE fruits and vegetables subcategory increased, HEI-2020 total scores significantly increased (β = .73, P = .005) and total cholesterol (β = -1.54, P = .014) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (β = -1.31, P = .010) significantly decreased. Increased availability of sweet and salty snack food and availability of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with increased fasting blood glucose (β = 0.65, P = .033) and insulin levels (β = 5.60, P = .035) respectively.

Conclusions: There is evidence of a relationship between the subcategories of the physical HFE and cardiometabolic factors. Future interventions are needed to understand whether altering the overall HFE or specific subcategories within the HFE can improve cardiometabolic health.