Restaurant outlet density and the healthfulness of food purchases: evidence from FoodAPS

TL;DR

This study finds that restaurant access has little impact on diet quality compared to household characteristics, using U.S. food purchase data.

Contribution

The study provides new empirical evidence on the limited role of restaurant density in shaping dietary quality.

Findings

Restaurant outlet counts and openings show few significant associations with dietary quality.

Household characteristics and demographics are stronger predictors of diet quality than restaurant access.

Access to food retailers like supermarkets may be more important than restaurant access for diet quality.

Abstract

The average American household’s diet and food purchasing patterns are out of sync with federal recommendations. Researchers have connected this with the large and growing rates of obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related ailments in the U.S. Restaurant food has been discussed a potential contributor to unhealthful diets, as it is often calorically dense. We investigate the association between household access to restaurants and diet quality using USDA FoodAPS data and NPD ReCount data.

We define radii around households to measure restaurant outlet counts and apply a regression analysis incorporating household characteristics.

We find that neither restaurant counts nor openings share many statistically or economically significant associations with average dietary quality. Household characteristics and demographics are far more powerful in explaining variation in diet quality.

Our findings align with the large and growing body of empirical research that suggests that personal preferences and other household characteristics are more important than the food environment in explaining food choices and diet quality. Given the extant research on the importance of access to large supermarkets, our results suggest that access to food retailers is more important in explaining diet quality than access to restaurants.

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