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标题：The Ubiquity of Energy-Dense Snack Foods: A National Multicity Study
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作者：Thomas A. Farley ; Erin T. Baker ; Lauren Futrell 等
期刊名称：American journal of public health
印刷版ISSN：0090-0036
出版年度：2010
卷号：100
期号：2
页码：306-311
DOI：10.2105/AJPH.2009.178681
语种：English
出版社：American Public Health Association
摘要：Objectives. We assessed the availability and accessibility of energy-dense snacks in retail stores whose primary merchandise was not food and whether these varied by store type, region, or socioeconomic factors. Methods. We conducted systematic observations of 1082 retail stores in 19 US cities and determined the availability and accessibility of 6 categories of energy-dense snack foods. Results. Snack food was available in 41% of the stores; the most common forms were candy (33%), sweetened beverages (20%), and salty snacks (17%). These foods were often within arm's reach of the cash register queue. We observed snack foods in 96% of pharmacies, 94% of gasoline stations, 22% of furniture stores, 16% of apparel stores, and 29% to 65% of other types of stores. Availability varied somewhat by region but not by the racial or socioeconomic characteristics of nearby census tracts. Conclusions. Energy-dense snack foods and beverages, implicated as contributors to the obesity epidemic, are widely available in retail stores whose primary business is not food. The ubiquity of these products may contribute to excess energy consumption in the United States. Obesity rates continue to rise in the United States.¹ Coincident with this rise have been increases in the amount of energy consumed and shifts in the locations and patterns of food consumption by Americans.^{2 – 4} Practices that have become increasingly common are eating away from home, snacking, and consuming sweetened beverages and energy-dense foods such as salty snacks.⁴ One study suggested that nearly all of the increase in calorie consumption in the United States between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s was in the form of snacks.⁴ The individual food items contributing the most to increases in energy consumed were sweetened beverages and salty snacks.⁴ Sweetened beverages have been associated with obesity and weight gain in both observational and intervention studies.⁵ Sweetened beverages and energy-dense snack foods are sold at nearly all grocery stores as well as most restaurants, and are available from snack counters and vending machines in many workplaces and schools. They are also available in retail stores that primarily sell other types of items and services. The widespread availability of energy-dense snack foods may contribute to the obesity epidemic in 2 ways: (1) by providing more opportunities to acquire these foods and (2) by providing cues to people suggesting that they snack. To understand the potential magnitude of this problem, we conducted observations in stores in 19 cities across the United States. Our objectives were to determine the proportion of retail establishments whose primary merchandise was not food that sold energy-dense snack foods and to assess whether and how that proportion varied by store type, region of the country, and socioeconomic status of the surrounding area.