Unhealthy food environments near schools and distance‑based regulations? New HEAL Study finds…
- Post by: Anastasia Soukhov
- 10:07AM Mar 16, 2026
- No Comment
A new study led by the HEAL PhD candidate Olivia Caruso, with Louise Watson McEachern, Alexander (AJ) Wray, Leia Minaker, Sean Doherty, and Jason Gilliland, examines inequities in adolescents’ food environments across Ontario. Using province-wide data on secondary schools, the study finds that unhealthy food vendors are disproportionately concentrated around schools serving more socioeconomically disadvantaged student populations.
The research also shows that distance‑based zoning regulations near schools do little to reduce these inequities, as disadvantaged schools are embedded within broader neighbourhoods saturated with unhealthy food retail. These findings highlight the limits of school‑centred buffers and point to the need for neighbourhood-scale, equity-oriented planning and food environment policies.
Read the full manuscript here: https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-026-01175-0
Citation:
Caruso, O., Watson McEachern, L., Wray, A., Minaker, L., Doherty, S., & Gilliland, J. (2026). Examining disparities in the accessibility of unhealthy food vendors in school neighbourhoods across Ontario: Would the implementation of new distance‑based regulations improve equity? Canadian Journal of Public Health.