(P14-088-23) Associations Between the Physical Home Food Environment, Diet Quality, and Weight in Children

Objectives: The physical availability of food in the home environment has been identified as an important influence on eating behaviors. Less is known about the relationship between the physical home food environment and diet quality in children. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between the physical home food environment and diet quality and weight in children 6-12 years old.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of 29 households with 44 children who participated in a cross-sectional study and had complete home food availability, diet, and anthropometric data. The physical home food environment was assessed using the Home Food Inventory (HFI), a (yes/no) checklist of foods available in the home. The HFI provides an obesogenic home food availability score (range 0-71), with higher scores suggesting a more obesogenic environment. Diet quality was measured by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) using three-day diet records analyzed through Nutrition Data Systems for Research Software. HEI-2015 ranges from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Height and weight were measured using standard procedures and used to calculate z-BMI. Linear mixed model regressions were used to test the association between the obesogenic home food availability score and HEI-2015 and z-BMI. A sub-analysis was conducted with only fruit and vegetable (FV) availability and HEI-2015.

Results: Children (n = 44) were 9.5±1.9 years with 61.4% identifying as female, 59.1% White, and 90.9% non-Hispanic. Across households (n = 29) the mean obesogenic home food availability score was 22.9±8.4 and there was a mean of 26.3±7.5 different types of FVs available. Children had a mean HEI-2015 total score of 57.5±14.0 and z-BMI of 0.78±0.79. Home food availability was significantly associated with z-BMI (B=0.03±0.01, F(1, 44)=5.12, p=0.029), but not HEI-2015 (B=-0.51±0.26, F(1, 44)=3.90, p=0.054). FV availability was significantly associated with HEI-2015 (B=0.84±0.24, F(1, 44)=11.70, p=0.001).

Conclusions: There is evidence of the relationship between obesogenic home food availability score and zBMI and FV availability and HEI-2015.

Funding Sources: The research reported was supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.