Table 1.
Summary of recent systematic reviews on the effectiveness of retail food environment interventions in community and consumer environments, 2012-2018
| 1st author | Year | N | Settings and interventions included | Main outcome | Dates included |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews specifically focused on retail food environment interventions (direct evidence) | |||||
| Adam [13] | 2016 | 42 | Physical retail food store interventions related to obesity and to increase the consumption of healthy foods, including price, information, and access/availability | Sale/purchase of healthy foods | 2003 to 2015 |
| Cameron [14•] | 2016 | 49 | Supermarket-based interventions, including product, promotion, and placement | Food purchasing, dietary intake, and weight | Database inception to December 2015 |
| Escaron [15] | 2013 | 58 | Supermarket and grocery store-based interventions, including point-of-purchase information, price, availability, promotion, and advertising | Consumer awareness, use, knowledge and beliefs, preferences, sales, and process measures | Late 1940s to July 2012 |
| Gittelsohn [16] | 2012 | 16* | Small store (< 10 employees and < 1,000 sq ft) interventions to influence food access and consumption | Process measures, store impact, consumer psychosocial and behavioral impact, consumer health | 1990 to September 2010 |
| Glanz [17] | 2012 | 125 | Food marketing confronted by consumers in grocery stores, including product, placement, price, and promotion; lab experiments, observational, and field interventions included | Food purchases and/or consumption | 1995 to 2010 |
| Hartmann-Boyce [18] | 2018 | 55 | Settings and interventions included: Supermarket and convenience store interventions including simulations, including price or rewards, placement, promotion, information, and swaps, randomized controlled trials only | Consumer purchasing | No date limit (search carried out June 2017) |
| Hasanthi-Abeykoon [19] | 2017 | 11 | Newly opened grocery stores, with or without added in-store intervention components | Physical or psychological health, psychological factors, food security, dietary intake, food purchasing, other food behavior | 1995 to November 2015 |
| Liberato [20] | 2014 | 32 | Nutrition interventions at the point-of-sale, including availability, affordability, or nutrition education/promotion | Food purchasing or dietary intake | No date limit (article published September 2014) |
| Pinard [21] | 2016 | 19 | Retail food environment research in small food stores, including observational studies as well as interventions, and focus on rural | No limits | May 2005 to May 2015 |
| van’t Riet [22] | 2012 | 16 | Product health information presented at the point-of-purchase | Food sales or purchasing | 1980 to 2010 |
| Woodruff [23] | 2017 | 23 | Initiatives to increase spatial access to food retailers | Fruit and vegetable consumption among adults | Database inception to November 2015 |
| Reviews on population health policies with influences in retail store settings (indirect evidence) | |||||
| Afshin [24] | 2015 | N/R | Broad range of policy interventions (mass media, labels, school procurement, worksite wellness, community built environment, fiscal, marketing) directed towards healthier dietary behavior and diet-related risk factors for cardiovascular disease | Dietary intake, adiposity, blood pressure, and blood lipids | 1980 to N/R (article published September 2015) |
| Allender [25•] | 2012 | N/R | Quantitative primary evidence of the relationship between nine policy areas intended to improve environments for healthy eating and physical activity at the local government level; and nutrition, physical activity, or weight | Summary of evidence was not reported; was used as the basis for qualitative research with informants | N/R; some sub-searches were limited to within last 10 years |
| Thow [26] | 2014 | 43 | Fiscal policies to encourage healthy diets (sugar-sweetened beverage, fat, and calorie-based taxes; nutrient profiling taxes; and healthy food subsidies). Only 4/43 papers assessed an actual tax or subsidy vs. model/hypothetical | Consumption including purchasing and dietary intake | January 2009–March 2012 |
N = number of included papers
N/R not reported
*This review used grey literature as well as peer-reviewed academic literature, and reported n as number of trials