Dianna Smith
Prof Graham Clarke
Dr Joan Ransley
October 2004 - September 2007
ORS award, Tetley and Lupton Scholarship (University of Leeds), School of Geography maintenance grant
This project examines the link between poor retail food access and concentrations of diet-related health problems, including type-2 diabetes, obesity, and low birth-weight, in West Yorkshire. As these conditions become more prevalent in England, a better understanding of their causes could save lives and NHS resources. The study will provide health officials with an improved understanding and consider the potential impact of changes in food accessibility in terms of public-health policy. The research involves the spatial-interaction modelling of food access in Bradford and Leeds, offering an improved indication of food access by using interaction data to predict shopping patterns, rather than straight-line distances to the nearest store. It will generate small-area (postcode-sector) accessibility/provision indicators, which can be inputted into a spatial microsimulation model – alongside socioeconomic, demographic, and dietary consumption data – to improve small-area predictions of the listed illnesses. The model will be calibrated against the known spatial distribution of these illnesses across Bradford and further tested in Leeds, where data are not so readily available, thus disclosing the relationship between food access and diet-related health in Bradford, and estimating the incidence of type-2 diabetes in Leeds. Additionally, the model will run several ‘what-if?’ scenarios, to assess the impact of adjusted food access on health.