The relationship between childhood obesity and neighborhood food ecology explored through the context of gentrification in New York City.

Inequity and health disparities can be exacerbated as a result of gentrification when long-term residents are displaced, or remain but are not able to take advantage of new opportunities. The disappearance of old and emergence of new food establishments may increase the proximity to and density of healthy food options, however, affordability and consumption of healthy food, nor a decrease in risk of adverse health outcomes are not guaranteed. Our study aims to understand the relationship between gentrification, neighborhood food environment, and childhood obesity. We describe food opportunities changes in New York City using National Establishments Time Series Database stratified by gentrification status. Using data from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health birth cohort study, we evaluate the impact of the area-level changing food chances on the body mass index z-scores of children at age five. Overall, gentrifying neighborhoods have the highest number of food chances and experience the most substantial increase in both healthy (p < 0.001) and unhealthy (p < 0.001) food chances between 1990-2010. After adjusting for covariates, higher access to healthy food chances was associated with both lower BMI z-score (p < 0.01) and less likelihood of being overweight or obese (p < 0.001) for five-year-old children. Our results suggest gentrification was associated with contemporaneous changes in the neighborhood food chances in NYC and children exposed to greater healthy foods experienced a lower probability of excess body weight by five years old. Further research is needed to understand other potential pathways connecting gentrification to childhood BMI.