TY - JOUR
T1 - Ethnic restaurant nutrition environments and cardiovascular health
T2 - Examining hispanic Caribbean restaurants in New York City
AU - Fuster, Melissa
AU - Pouget, Enrique R.
AU - Handley, Margaret A.
AU - Ray, Krishnendu
AU - Elbel, Brian
AU - Sakowitz, Eddie N.
AU - Halvey, Kayla
AU - Huang, Terry
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the City University of New York (CUNY-PSC Award -B Cycle 50) and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (K01 HL147882-01).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Ethnicity and Disease, Inc.. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Objective: To adapt and apply the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey for Restaurants (NEMS-R) to Hispanic Caribbean (HC) restaurants and examine associations between restaurant characteristics and nutrition environment measures. Methods: We adapted the NEMS-R for HC cuisines (Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican) and cardiovascular health-promoting factors, and applied the instrument (NEMS-HCR) to a random sample of HC restaurants in New York City (NYC) (N=89). Multivariable linear regression was used to assess independent associations between NEMS-HCR score and restaurant characteristics (cuisine, size, type [counter-style vs sit-down] and price). Results: None of the menus in the restaurants studied listed any main dishes as “healthy” or “light.” More than half (52%) offered mostly (>75%) nonfried main dishes, and 76% offered at least one vegetarian option. The most common facilitator to healthy eating was offering reduced portion sizes (21%) and the most common barrier was having salt shakers on tables (40%). NEMS-HCR scores (100-point scale) ranged from 24.1-55.2 (mean=39.7). In multivariable analyses, scores were significantly related to cuisine (with Puerto Rican cuisine scoring lower than Cuban and Dominican cuisines), and size (with small [<22 seats] restaurants scoring lower than larger restaurants). We found a significant quadratic association with midpoint price, suggesting that scores increased with increasing price in the lowest price range, did not vary in the middle range, and decreased with increasing price in the highest range. Conclusions: Our application of the NEMS-R to HC restaurants in NYC revealed areas for potential future interventions to improve food offerings and environmental cues to encourage healthful choices.
AB - Objective: To adapt and apply the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey for Restaurants (NEMS-R) to Hispanic Caribbean (HC) restaurants and examine associations between restaurant characteristics and nutrition environment measures. Methods: We adapted the NEMS-R for HC cuisines (Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican) and cardiovascular health-promoting factors, and applied the instrument (NEMS-HCR) to a random sample of HC restaurants in New York City (NYC) (N=89). Multivariable linear regression was used to assess independent associations between NEMS-HCR score and restaurant characteristics (cuisine, size, type [counter-style vs sit-down] and price). Results: None of the menus in the restaurants studied listed any main dishes as “healthy” or “light.” More than half (52%) offered mostly (>75%) nonfried main dishes, and 76% offered at least one vegetarian option. The most common facilitator to healthy eating was offering reduced portion sizes (21%) and the most common barrier was having salt shakers on tables (40%). NEMS-HCR scores (100-point scale) ranged from 24.1-55.2 (mean=39.7). In multivariable analyses, scores were significantly related to cuisine (with Puerto Rican cuisine scoring lower than Cuban and Dominican cuisines), and size (with small [<22 seats] restaurants scoring lower than larger restaurants). We found a significant quadratic association with midpoint price, suggesting that scores increased with increasing price in the lowest price range, did not vary in the middle range, and decreased with increasing price in the highest range. Conclusions: Our application of the NEMS-R to HC restaurants in NYC revealed areas for potential future interventions to improve food offerings and environmental cues to encourage healthful choices.
KW - Cardiovascular disease
KW - Food environment
KW - Hispanic/Latino
KW - Restaurants
KW - Dominican Republic/ethnology
KW - Nutritive Value
KW - Restaurants/statistics & numerical data
KW - Humans
KW - Diet, Healthy
KW - New York City
KW - Commerce/statistics & numerical data
KW - Food/economics
KW - Cuba/ethnology
KW - Puerto Rico/ethnology
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85092122217&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.18865/ED.30.4.583
DO - 10.18865/ED.30.4.583
M3 - Article
C2 - 32989358
AN - SCOPUS:85092122217
SN - 1049-510X
VL - 30
SP - 583
EP - 592
JO - Ethnicity and Disease
JF - Ethnicity and Disease
IS - 4
ER -