AUTHOR=Souza Bianca Bittencourt de , Quialheiro Anna , Correa Elizabeth Nappi , Rech Cassiano Ricardo , Giehl Maruí Weber Corseuil , d’Orsi Eleonora 

TITLE=Association between healthy food environment and metabolic syndrome, waist circumference, and systolic blood pressure in older adults in Southern Brazil

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging/articles/10.3389/fragi.2022.922687

DOI=10.3389/fragi.2022.922687

ISSN=2673-6217

ABSTRACT=The aim of this study was to establish the association between healthy food outlet proximity,  metabolic syndrome (MS) and two of its components (waist circumference -WC and systolic blood pressure-SBP) in older adults (63 to 107 years old, median 73 years) living in Florianópolis, South Brazil, in 2013-2014. This is a cross-sectional analysis of the second wave of  EpiFloripa Aging Cohort Study. Individual-level data on MS, WC, SBP, socio-demographic and health-related characteristics were collected from face-face interviews. The healthy food environment was assessed to presence of  number and type establishment. After that, the older adults' residence was georeferenced, and by the Geographical Information System (GIS) software, the number of each type of establishment was counted in a 500m buffer around the older adults households. Multivariate linear regressions were used to test the association between the exposure to food outlet proximity and continuous outcomes (systolic blood pressure and waist circumference), and multiple logistic regression was used to the dichotomous outcome metabolic syndrome (yes/no). The study revealed that the greater frequency of supermarkets and restaurants in the neighborhood were associated with a lower chance of having MS. WC was lower in those individuals living in places with greater availability of greengrocers and restaurants. The research concluded that the number of establishments in the neighborhood is associated with cardiometabolic outcomes, and the chance of metabolic syndrome and elevated waist circumference is lower for older adults who lives in neighborhoods with more access to establishments that sell base products of a healthy diet.