What is the impact on children's health and behaviour, of living in or going to school in areas with lots of unhealthy food outlets?
Background
Child overweight and obesity is a serious worldwide public health problem. In England in 2023/24, almost one in ten children were living with obesity at age 4-5, and over 1 in 5 at ages 10-11; and obesity prevalence is over twice as high in the most deprived than in the least deprived areas. The most deprived areas also have the highest, and fastest growing, exposure to unhealthy food outlets such as hot food takeaways. Through planning regulations such as ‘exclusion zones’, Local Authorities have the power to restrict new openings of these outlets, but it is not clear whether, and how, the impact of local food environments on children’s health is causal.
Project Aims
This project will assess the impact of local planning regulations on the spread of hot food takeaways, and the causal impact of exposure to hot food takeaways on children’s health outcomes and behaviours.
Project Activity
We will analyse data on local populations of children or nationally representative samples of children and families over the past decade. We will link these with data on the density of different kinds of food outlets derived from the Food Standards Agency website; and develop a database of local planning regulations affect hot food takeaway outlets.
We will use statistical models that focus on changes in food environments that have been achieved through policy, and/or that control for lots of other things that might affect children’s health behaviours and outcomes, including access to green space, the sex and ethnicity of the children and household income.
Anticipated or actual outputs
We expect this project to help Local Authorities and central government make informed strategic planning or regulation decisions that affect local food environments. Policy options including ‘exclusion zones’ around schools; density or opening-time restrictions or age restrictions on purchases.
Who is involved?
- Angus Holford (corresponding) - Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex
- Hester Burn - Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex
- Birgitta Rabe - Professor of Economics, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex [Not ARC funded]
Contact: ajholf@essex.ac.uk
