Table 2.
Specific characteristics of studies included in the current systematic review of food environments relevant to obesity and related chronic diseases in Latin America
| Study characteristic | n | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| INFORMAS dimension | Food provision/retail | 27 | 32·1 |
| Food promotion | 16 | 19·0 | |
| Food labelling | 15 | 17·9 | |
| Food price | 8 | 9·5 | |
| Composition & labelling | 6 | 7·1 | |
| Food composition | 6 | 7·1 | |
| Retail & price | 3 | 3·6 | |
| Composition & price | 2 | 2·4 | |
| Promotion & labelling | 1 | 1·2 | |
| Policy/environment | Environment | 58 | 69·0 |
| Policy | 26 | 31·0 | |
| Urbanicity | Urban | 65 | 77·4 |
| National | 16 | 19·0 | |
| Rural | 3 | 3·6 | |
| Study setting* | Consumer FE | 36 | 42·9 |
| Community FE | 17 | 20·2 | |
| Schools and surrounding areas | 14 | 16·7 | |
| Hours of TV programming | 9 | 10·7 | |
| Other | 8 | 9·5 | |
| FE assessment method† | Direct | 70 | 83·3 |
| Indirect | 7 | 8·3 | |
| Perceived | 7 | 8·3 | |
| Association between FE and health outcome | No (descriptive study) | 60 | 71·4 |
| Yes: diet/dietary components | 13 | 15·5 | |
| Yes: weight/BMI/obesity | 7 | 8·3 | |
| Yes: BMI & diet | 3 | 3·6 | |
| Yes: non-communicable diseases | 1 | 1·2 | |
| Results stratified by SEP | No | 65 | 77·4 |
| Yes | 19 | 22·6 |
INFORMAS, International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support; FE, food environment; SEP, socio-economic position; TV, television.
Study setting: consumer FE studies investigate characteristics of products sold in supermarkets and shops; community FE studies investigate density of food shops, distance to shops, perceived FE in neighbourhoods; school studies investigate foods sold in schools and surrounding areas; hours of TV programming studies investigate foods advertised on TV; other studies use household budget surveys.
FE assessment method: direct studies counted and classified e.g. number of shops or TV advertisements, or analysed food composition in a laboratory; indirect studies deduced something about the FE from other measures e.g. food prices through household expenditure data; perceived studies asked the study participants about their environment.