Grant: CIHR New Investigator

More than one-half of Canadian adults are currently overweight or obese and this proportion is likely to increase in the future due to our increasingly unhealthy lifestyles. There has been recent focus on the built environment's role in determining behaviours related to overweight and obesity, including physical inactivity and poor diet. Opportunities for regular physical activity or healthy diet are not always available, particularly in less affluent neighbourhoods. Socioeconomically disadvantaged groups are at higher risk of obesity, are less physically active, and have poorer diets yet our understanding of how contextual (built characteristics) and compositional (socioeconomic status) neighbourhood characteristics influence physical activity, diet, and weight status are still rudimentary, particularly in the Canadian context. This project will involve a random cross-section of 2497 adult study participants from Calgary (Alberta). Participants will complete a postal survey that will capture their physical activity-related energy expenditure, caloric intake, height and weight, and socio-demographic characteristics. Participants will also receive a body measuring tape to capture waist and hip circumference. Indices reflecting the neighbourhood environment's supportiveness for physical activity and a healthy diet within 1-km of participant's homes will be estimated from existing municipal databases and field audits of streetscapes. The relationships between neighbourhood environment indices and socioeconomic status, energy expenditure and caloric intake, and multiple indicators of weight status (BMI and measures of central adiposity including waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio) will be estimated. Findings will be useful for informing urban planning and policy decisions that may support healthy weight status and socioeconomic health-related disparities among Canadians.