Understanding healthy food environments in public health practice

Abstract

Food environments, defined through man-made built and social environments, can impact diet-related health outcomes by influencing the affordability, availability, and accessibility of healthy and nutritious foods (Rideout et al., 2015). A healthy food environment enables equitable access to healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy snack options in various food outlets. In general, there are four types of food environments that influence food consumption choices.