U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

Examining the association between intervention-related changes in diet, physical activity, and weight as moderated by the food and physical activity environments among rural, Southern adults

Supporting Files
File Language:
English


Details

  • Alternative Title:
    J Acad Nutr Diet
  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Background

    Few studies have been conducted in rural areas assessing the influence of community-level environmental factors on residents’ success improving lifestyle behaviors.

    Objective

    To examine whether 6-month changes in diet, physical activity, and weight were moderated by the food and physical activity environment in a rural adult population receiving an intervention designed to improve diet and physical activity.

    Design

    We examined associations between self-reported and objectively-measured changes in diet, physical activity, and weight, and perceived and objectively-measured food and physical activity environments. Participants were followed for 6 months.

    Participants/Setting

    Participants were enrolled in the Heart Healthy Lenoir (HHL) Project, a lifestyle intervention study conducted in Lenoir County, located in rural southeastern NC. Sample sizes ranged from 132 to 249, depending upon the availability of the data.

    Intervention

    Participants received 4 counseling sessions that focused on healthy eating (adapted Mediterranean diet pattern) and increasing physical activity.

    Potential moderating factors

    Density of and distance to food and physical activity venues, modified food environment index, Walk Score®, crime, and perceived nutrition and physical activity neighborhood barriers.

    Outcome Measures

    Diet quality, physical activity, and weight loss.

    Statistical Analyses

    Correlation and linear regression, controlling for potential confounders (baseline values of the dependent variables, age, race, education, and sex).

    Results

    In adjusted analysis, there was an inverse association between weight change and the food environment, suggesting that participants who lived in a less healthy food environment lost more weight over the 6-month intervention period (P = 0.01). Also, there was a positive association between self-reported physical activity and distance to private gyms (P = 0.04) and an inverse association between private gym density and pedometer-measured steps (P = 0.03), indicating that those who lived further from gyms and in areas with lower density of gyms had greater increases in physical activity and steps, respectively.

    Conclusions

    Contrary to our hypotheses, results indicated that those living in less favorable food and physical activity environments had greater improvements in diet, PA and weight, compared to those living in more favorable environments. Additional research should be undertaken to address these paradoxical findings, and if confirmed, to better understand them.

  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • Source:
    J Acad Nutr Diet. 117(10):1618-1627
  • Pubmed ID:
    28606554
  • Pubmed Central ID:
    PMC5623155
  • Document Type:
  • Funding:
  • Volume:
    117
  • Issue:
    10
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha256:414a36f68dffa8e39a84af67a0844207d4b0682905789c02517346656e6d0f38
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 359.15 KB ]
File Language:
English
ON THIS PAGE

CDC STACKS serves as an archival repository of CDC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other public health information authored or co-authored by CDC or funded partners.

As a repository, CDC STACKS retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.