Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1048829 Health & Place 2007 9 Pages PDF
Abstract

Access to healthy food can be an important determinant of a healthy diet. This paper describes the assessment of access to healthy and unhealthy foods using a GIS accessibility programme in a large outer municipality of Melbourne. Access to a major supermarket was used as a proxy for access to a healthy diet and fast food outlet as proxy for access to unhealthy food. Our results indicated that most (>80%)(>80%) residents lived within an 8–10 min car journey of a major supermarket i.e. have good access to a healthy diet. However, more advantaged areas had closer access to supermarkets, conversely less advantaged areas had closer access to fast food outlets. These findings have application for urban planners, public health practitioners and policy makers.

Related Topics
Health Sciences Medicine and Dentistry Public Health and Health Policy
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