Recreation Facility Food and Beverage Environments in Ontario, Canada: An Appeal for Policy

Susan Caswell, Patti-Jean Naylor, Dana Olstad, Sara Kirk, Louise Mâsse, Kim Raine and Rhona Hanning
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Susan Caswell: School of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Patti-Jean Naylor: Institute of Applied Physical Activity and Health Research, School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3P1, Canada
Dana Olstad: Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4Z6, Canada
Sara Kirk: Healthy Populations Institute, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
Louise Mâsse: BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6H 3V4, Canada
Kim Raine: School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9, Canada
Rhona Hanning: School of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: Canadian, municipally funded recreation/sport facilities typically have unhealthy food environments. Ontario, unlike some provinces, lacks a voluntary recreation facility nutrition policy. This study assessed the healthfulness of food environments and vending sales in 16 Ontario recreation/sport facilities and, secondarily, compared data from facilities within municipalities that banned versus permitted plastic bottled-water sales (water-ban, n = 8; water, n = 8) to test the nutritional effects of environmental policy. Concession and vending packaged food/beverage offerings and vending sales were audited twice, eighteen months apart. The products were categorized using nutrition guidelines as Sell Most (SM) , Sell Sometimes (SS) , and Do Not Sell (DNS) . Both water and water-ban facilities offered predominantly (>87%) DNS packaged food items. However, proportions of DNS and SM concession and vending beverages differed ( p < 0.01). DNS beverages averaged 74% and 88% of vending offerings in water and water-ban facilities, respectively, while SM beverages averaged 14% and 1%, respectively. Mirroring offerings, DNS beverages averaged 79% and 90% of vending sales in water versus water-ban facilities. Ontario recreation/sport facilities provided unhealthy food environments; most food/beverage offerings were energy-dense and nutrient-poor. Water bans were associated with increased facility-based exposure to DNS beverage options. A nutrition policy is recommended to make recreation facility food/beverage environments healthier and to mitigate unintended negative consequences of bottled-water bans.

Keywords: food environments; food policy; recreation facilities; sports clubs; nutrition guidelines; food-based guidelines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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