Patricia Gálvez Espinoza

Introduction: Food-environment models often privilege structural determinants and under-specify how eating practices and agency participate in (re)producing environments. This study analyzes, through a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, how social eating practices are shaped by food environments and, in turn, contribute to their differential configuration across two districts of contrasting socioeconomic status. It proposes a theoretical framework that articulates Bourdieu's praxeology with Shove's theory of practices, conceptualizing food environments as social fields in which capitals are contested, and meanings, materials, and competencies are stabilized. Methods: Through a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, the NEMS-P-Ch survey was administered to 785 adults, and eleven focus groups were conducted in two districts of contrasting socioeconomic status (SES) within a major Latin American metropolis. Results: In low-SES districts, provisioning practices center on farmers' markets and local shops, mobilizing social capital and budget-maximizing strategies to navigate material scarcity. Conversely, high-SES practices are dominated by supermarkets and digital platforms, guided by time efficiency and taste as markers of distinction. Discussion: The food environment is both a producer and a product of daily practices, which configure differentiated infrastructures based on the agents' trajectories and available capitals. Public policies must move beyond isolated individual and structural approaches, integrating the complexity of social practices to effectively address the persistent structural inequalities of urban food systems.

Background: The globalised industrial food system is one of the main drivers of global environmental change. As such, there is an increasingly greater number of food‐based dietary guidelines, and a shift towards food‐system based dietary guidelines, with components of environmental sustainability and other aspects of food systems. In Chile and globally, there is a lack of comprehensive recommendations for integrating food‐based dietary guidelines into local food systems, with distinct climates, infrastructure, and groups of Indigenous Peoples. Methods: We used a transdisciplinary, participatory food systems approach across five climatically, agriculturally, and culturally distinct regions (Metropolitan, Arica and Parinacota, Coquimbo, La Araucanía, Los Lagos) to explore the complexities of implementing the new Chilean Dietary Guidelines, collaborating across disciplines (e.g., anthropology, nutrition, agriculture, health) and related sectors (small‐scale producers, small‐scale vendors/retailers, consumers). In each region, we conducted a project launch event, local food system mapping workshop, telephone surveys and one participatory group model building workshop ( n = 30–34/region) to identify barriers and facilitators, and the relationships between them, to sustainable food systems. Across regions, local food systems definitions were developed. Five regional causal loop diagrams were constructed, from which a consolidated causal loop diagram was synthesised. Results: From the 143 food systems drivers and factors were identified, 14 overarching themes critical to understanding local food systems emerged: (1) Food and nutrition policies, (2) School food programmes, (3) Sustainable food systems, (4) Local production and access, (5) Labour supply, (6) Climate change, (7) Fresh flavour quality, (8) Fast‐paced lifestyle, (9) National recognition of ancestral and traditional food culture, (10) Home cooking perception, (11) Cost‐convenience trade‐off, (12) Imported foods, (13) Household food culture, and (14) Ancestral and traditional food knowledge. These themes reflect a strong awareness amongst diverse local food system actors in Chile of the links between territory, climate, food, and environmental sustainability. Conclusions: A transdisciplinary approach to understanding local food systems is essential for strengthening sustainable food systems that mitigate climate change, with participatory methods ensuring that public health policies align with territorial and intercultural realities. Identifying leverage points within local communities, based on their experiences and proposed solutions, is critical for supporting the culturally and contextually relevant implementation of food‐based dietary guidelines, ensuring policies are both effective and equitable in addressing food system challenges amidst the climate crisis.

Introducción: La malnutrición por exceso es prevalente en Chile y se asocia a entornos alimentarios que favorecen patrones dietarios poco saludables. El ambiente alimentario doméstico desempeña un rol clave en la configuración de hábitos y estado nutricional, aspectos poco estudiados en la región. Objetivo: Explorar la percepción de la obesogenicidad del ambiente alimentario doméstico y su asociación con la percepción de la imagen corporal en adultos de barrios urbanos de distintos niveles socioeconómicos del Gran Santiago, Chile. Material y métodos: Estudio transversal realizado en dos barrios del Gran Santiago, uno de NSE bajo y otro de NSE alto. Se aplicó la Encuesta de Medición del Entorno Nutricional Percibido para Chile a 784 personas. Se calcularon puntajes de la percepción de obesogenicidad del ambiente doméstico y se categorizaron en quintiles. Además, se midió la autopercepción de imagen corporal mediante la escala de siluetas de Thompson y Gray, como variable de desenlace. La asociación se estimó mediante modelos de regresión logística. Resultados: En los quintiles de mayor obesogenicidad del ambiente doméstico se concentró una mayor proporción de participantes del barrio de nivel socioeconómico bajo. En la muestra general, el quintil percibido como menos obesogénico tuvo una probabilidad 46% menor de percibir una imagen corporal relacionada con exceso de peso. Esta asociación fue estadísticamente significativa en el barrio de alto nivel socioeconómico. Conclusiones: El contexto socioeconómico del barrio sugiere la presencia de inequidades que se trasladan al hogar, condicionando su configuración como entorno alimentario y las oportunidades de adoptar patrones alimentarios saludables en Chile.

Introducción: La malnutrición por exceso es prevalente en Chile y se asocia a entornos alimentarios que favorecen patrones dietarios poco saludables. El ambiente alimentario doméstico desempeña un rol clave en la configuración de hábitos y estado nutricional, aspectos poco estudiados en la región. Objetivo: Explorar la percepción de la obesogenicidad del ambiente alimentario doméstico y su asociación con la percepción de la imagen corporal en adultos de barrios urbanos de distintos niveles socioeconómicos del Gran Santiago, Chile. Material y métodos: Estudio transversal realizado en dos barrios del Gran Santiago, uno de NSE bajo y otro de NSE alto. Se aplicó la Encuesta de Medición del Entorno Nutricional Percibido para Chile a 784 personas. Se calcularon puntajes de la percepción de obesogenicidad del ambiente doméstico y se categorizaron en quintiles. Además, se midió la autopercepción de imagen corporal mediante la escala de siluetas de Thompson y Gray, como variable de desenlace. La asociación se estimó mediante modelos de regresión logística. Resultados: En los quintiles de mayor obesogenicidad del ambiente doméstico se concentró una mayor proporción de participantes del barrio de nivel socioeconómico bajo. En la muestra general, el quintil percibido como menos obesogénico tuvo una probabilidad 46% menor de percibir una imagen corporal relacionada con exceso de peso. Esta asociación fue estadísticamente significativa en el barrio de alto nivel socioeconómico. Conclusiones: El contexto socioeconómico del barrio sugiere la presencia de inequidades que se trasladan al hogar, condicionando su configuración como entorno alimentario y las oportunidades de adoptar patrones alimentarios saludables en Chile.

The digital food environment is relevant for public health, as it shapes food access, promotion, and consumption. However, evidence on how different socioeconomic groups engage with this environment is limited. This study aimed to compare how adults from high- and low-socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods in Santiago, Chile, interact with the digital food environment. This qualitative, cross-sectional study conducted 11 focus groups with 78 adults from high- and low-SES neighborhoods. Data were analyzed using inductive reflexive thematic analysis. Two themes and 6 subthemes emerged. (1) Digital food environment as a space of access, consumption, and social differentiation : SES shaped the nature of digital food engagement. High-SES participants described routine use of online platforms to purchase meals and groceries, including healthier options. Low-SES participants engaged sporadically, driven by promotions and support from younger relatives. (2) Digital food environment as a communicative and affective space of influence : Participants reported exposure to unhealthy food advertising. High-SES individuals demonstrated greater awareness of targeted marketing and employed strategies to avoid ads. In contrast, low-SES participants tend to adopt a passive stance, valuing online information for economic reasons. Motivations also diverged: high-SES adults sought content related to self-care and healthy eating, whereas low-SES adults looked mainly for discounts or cheaper options. These findings highlight the interaction with the digital food environment is widespread among adults, showing disparities by SES. Findings underscore the need for targeted policies, including regulating digital marketing, promoting digital literacy, reducing socioeconomic disparities, and fostering healthier digital food environments.

Several studies indicate that characteristics of food environments affect eating behavior. The transformation of food environments depends on their regulation, and participatory bodies can provide greater relevance and legitimacy to these regulations. This article presents the results of the final phase of the study “Assessing food environments at home: a contribution to local policies.” Local stakeholders in two Chilean communes constructed the recommendations; inputs for the construction of the proposals come from previous phases, (1) adaptation and validation of the Perceived Nutritional Environment Measurement Survey (NEMS‐P‐Ch) and (2) application of NEMS‐P‐Ch in households in high and low socioeconomic sectors, and comparison of results. After conducting two workshops and two discussions, a matrix of public policy recommendations was constructed to improve food environments. The results show that the population is aware of the issue, that they are clear about the solutions to the problems that affect them, and that what was proposed requires political will on the part of both local and national authorities. There is a clear need to transform food environments from the regulatory, normative, programmatic, and legislative point of view, as well as to strengthen people's capacities and skills to manage their health.

Background/Objectives: Addressing the global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change requires a shift toward healthy and sustainable diets. This study examines the feasibility and cost implications of implementing a Healthy and Sustainable Basic Food Basket in Chile that aligns with the EAT–Lancet diet recommendations, through its comparison with the current Basic Food Basket used for the poverty line definition. Methods: The Healthy and Sustainable Basic Food Basket was constructed based on the EAT–Lancet dietary model and was uniquely adapted to reflect the observed consumption patterns of Chile’s lowest income quintile, allowing for a more realistic affordability assessment for vulnerable populations. Food prices from the National Institute of Statistics were analyzed over a 10-year period (2014–2023). Results: This study found that the Healthy and Sustainable Basic Food Basket provides 2001 kcal per day with a balanced macronutrient distribution. However, its average cost was 13.9% higher than the Basic Food Basket, posing a significant economic barrier for low-income populations. The cost gap varied seasonally, peaking in October (21.1% higher) and narrowing in December (4.6% higher). Long-term trends showed increasing costs for both baskets, with the Healthy and Sustainable Basic Food Basket reaching its highest price in 2023, further limiting affordability. Conclusions: These findings highlight the limitations of current poverty measurement frameworks in Chile, which prioritize caloric sufficiency over nutritional quality and sustainability. This suggests a need for policy revisions to incorporate the cost of healthy and sustainable diets into poverty assessments and social protection programs. Key policy recommendations include promoting healthier diets and improved food nutrition, supporting low-carbon foods, regulating local food production and supply systems, and encouraging seasonal, local consumption. This study underscores the need for structural interventions to ensure equitable access to sustainable diets, addressing both public health and environmental concerns.

Introduction In Chile, there is a high prevalence of obesity, and most people have an inadequate quality of food. Food environments can constitute barriers that prevent healthy food choices and lead to overweight and obesity, as well as diet-related non-communicable diseases. There are international instruments that allow the characterization of food environments. In Chile, there are no studies on the perception of food environments. This study aimed to characterize the perception of obesogenicity of food environments in the urban Chilean population using an instrument previously validated in Chile. Methods This is a cross-sectional study with probabilistic sampling. The "Perceived Nutrition Environment Measures Survey", based on the Chilean model of food environments, was applied to 256 participants from two urban communities of the Metropolitan Region. Scores were calculated for the instrument items, which allowed calculating scores by environments included in the Chilean model of Food Environments. Negative scores were related to a higher obesogenic level. Results The results show that the domestic food environment is perceived as less obesogenic (median of 15.8 points), with more than 90% of households having fruits, vegetables, and legumes, even though the supply food environment was negative (median -0.19 points). However, about 50% of households had ultra-processed foods. The street food environment was perceived as the most obesogenic (median -1.91 points), with more than 60% of the participants indicating difficulty finding healthy options. Conclusions According to the level of obesogenicity of the environments studied, it is necessary to have public policies that improve them and ensure the availability and physical and economic access to healthy food, particularly in the food supply and public road environments.

Background: Food environments are crucial for promoting healthy and sustainable eating and preventing obesity. However, existing food environment frameworks assume an already installed causality and do not explain how associations in food environments are established or articulated, especially from an integrative and transdisciplinary approach. This research attempts to bridge these gaps through the use of Actor-Network Theory, which traces the relationship network between human (and nonhuman) actors in order to describe how these interact and what agencies (direct or remote) are involved. Objective: This study aims to explain the practices and interactions of actors in food environments in order to approach the problem of unhealthy eating with a transdisciplinary approach. Methods: This is a nonexperimental, cross-sectional study. Due to the complexity of the study phenomena, a mixed methods approach with 4 consecutive phases will be developed in Chile. Phase 1 involves a systematic literature review of food environment evidence since 2015, following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) protocol; phase 2 involves the application of a shortened version of the Nutrition Environment Measure Scale—Perceptions adapted to Chile (NEMS-P-Ch) in 2 neighborhoods with different socioeconomic levels; in phase 3, six focus groups in each neighborhood will be conducted to address social determinants such as gender, employment status, and migration; and in phase 4, participant observation and in-depth interviews will be used to analyze the direct and empirical exploration of the actors in their daily interaction with food environments. The triangulation and complementarity of the data will allow us to create a practical model about the practices and interactions of actors in their food environments, which reflects the complexity and transdisciplinary nature of the study. Results: We have advanced in phases 1-3 of the study. In phase 1, a total of 109 manuscripts are being revised for data extraction. In phase 2, we applied the NEMS-P-Ch to 785 people, 49.4% (388/785) of whom belong to a low socioeconomic neighborhood. Participants from phase 2 are being contacted to participate in the focus groups (phase 3). By the end of July, we have conducted 6 focus groups with 5-11 participants. Conclusions: This study will provide a comprehensive understanding of how individuals interact with their food environments, offering deep insights into the factors influencing their food-related decisions. In addition, the study aims to develop a model that more accurately reflects reality by examining not only the food environments themselves but also the interactions among various stakeholders within these environments and their daily practices. The findings of this study will offer evidence-based insights to inform public policies tailored to the specific territories and communities under investigation or those with similar characteristics. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/62765