Local food environments for a healthy equitable city: evidence to inform urban planning policy and governance in Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Obesity is a major public health challenge and a risk factor for many non-communicable diseases. Further, inequities in the distribution of obesity and diet-related disease across populations are also of concern. Spatial access to food outlets may influence dietary intake and diet-related health outcomes, however the evidence is inconsistent and inconclusive. Key methodological challenges that may contribute to inconsistent findings include the heterogeneity of food environment access measures and choice of geographic scale. This thesis investigated spatial access to food outlets and associations with dietary intake and body mass index (BMI) in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; a city experie..