Unhealthy commodities are products that, when consumed or used, have the potential to negatively impact health. These can include items like tobacco, nicotine vapour, alcohol, processed foods high in sugar, salt and fat, sugary beverages or gambling. The use of these unhealthy commodities has been positively associated with cardiovascular diseases, obesity, mental health problems and other preventable non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The exposure to these unhealthy commodities in the environment might lead to a higher normalization and use of these products, and increasing health problems attributed to their consumption.
Tobacco and alcohol consumption are two of the most important preventable causes of ill-health and premature death. In Scotland, one in every five deaths are attributable to tobacco use, and one in twenty are attributable to alcohol.
In CRESH we have been investigating these links between tobacco and alcohol environments and health. Our findings have affirmed that greater neighbourhood availability of alcohol and tobacco in Scotland is related to behaviours, harms and health inequalities (Clemens et al 2020; Pearce et al 2016; Richardson et al 2015, Shortt et al 2016, 2017, 2018).
Problem gambling has been identified as a high priority in the global public health agenda, since it is directly connected with other unhealthy commodities issues. Thus, it has been linked to several health outcomes, such as increased alcohol consumption, obesity, smoking, mental health problems and suicide. A previous CRESH study evinced a spatial clustering effect of the exposure to several unhealthy commodities (e.g., alcohol, takeaway or fast food, gambling and tobacco) within similar geographical areas, specifically in the most deprived neighbourhoods (Macdonald, 2018).
Building on our research, and through: (1) the SPECTRUM Consortium -- a multi-university, multi-agency research consortium focused on the commercial determinants of health and health inequalities funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership; and (2) an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded study entitled ‘Change in alcohol and tobacco availability, population health and the lived experience’, we have developed this open access web map.
Through the use of digital maps, this web resource allows you to visualise the availability of unhealthy commodities in Scotland. Unhealthy commodities were organised and displayed by different domains, including alcohol, tobacco, smoking (including nicotine vapour products), takeaways and gambling. Availability can be explored at the neighbourhood level using the geography of Scottish Government Data Zones. Availability can also be visualised across a range of 14-other geographies, such as Local Authorities or NHS Health Boards. In addition, availability of alcohol and tobacco can be seen across time, with information on availability provided for the following years: 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2023 (with smoking for 2020 and 2024). Gambling data were only available for 2023. There is also the option to consider different forms of alcohol availability, notably whether alcohol availability relates to off-trade retailers (where alcohol is sold for consumption off-site, for example at a convenience store), or on-trade (where alcohol may be purchased for consumption on-site, for example at a restaurant). From 2020 tobacco retail outlets were differentiated from NVP (nicotine vapour product or 'vapes') outlets and combined into a new domain of smoking retail outlets.
To supplement the information on alcohol, takeaways, gambling and tobacco retail availability, the web map enables you to visually explore a range of other neighbourhood level information, for example an area’s level of ‘deprivation’. These supplementary data are official Scottish Government small area statistics referenced in the 2020 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.
As not to duplicate data presented elsewhere, for each Data zone we provide a link to further information from statistics.gov.uk. For example, web searching for the "Canongate, Southside and Dumbiedykes-05" Data zone will redirect here. This webpage gives information on geography, housing, health, deprivation and urban/rural classification.
Access to green and natural environments has demonstrated to have a positive effect on mental wellbeing as multiple studies suggest it may play an important role on mitigating stress levels. In an effort improve quality of life across Scotland’s urban settlements, the Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) has funded the Woods in and Around Towns (WIAT) programme. The programme has the aim to increase the contact that local residents have with urban woodlands by tackling the barriers they face to visit and benefit from them. They do so by focusing on two main components: i) physical changes to the woods to improve their attractiveness (e.g., drained footpaths, signage, entrance features), and ii) community engagement events to encourage their use (e.g., family fun days, photography, workshops).
With the purpose of prioritising those living in relative poverty – who typically face high levels of stress and poor mental health – the programme determined to fund those woodlands that fell within an eligible and a priority area. The eligible area is composed by a 1km buffer around settlements with a population of at least 2,000 people, while the priority area was designated as a 500m buffer around the 15% most deprived areas in Scotland.
In this map, we present the full set of selected WIAT woodlands as well as the settlements that fall within both the eligible and priority criteria. Please note that to allow a comparison with other data in the site, we decided to show these areas through the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) data zones. This means that the resulting eligible and priority zones are a simplified depiction of the actual buffers. For simplicity, we have selected those data zones that have, at least, half their area covered by the original buffers. The data was processed using the Overlap Analysis tool in QGIS.
Clemens T, Dibben C, Pearce J & Shortt NK (2020). Neighbourhood tobacco supply and individual maternal smoking during pregnancy: A fixed-effects longitudinal analysis using routine data. Tobacco Control, 29(1), 7-14. https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054422
Macdonald L, Olsen JR, Shortt NK, Ellaway A (2018). Do ‘environmental bads’ such as alcohol, fast food, tobacco, and gambling outlets cluster and co-located in more deprived areas in Glasgow City, Scotland? Health & Place, 51, 224-231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2018.04.008
Pearce, J, Rind E, Shortt NK, Tisch C, & Mitchell R (2016). Tobacco retail environments and social inequalities in individual-level smoking and cessation among Scottish adults. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 18(2), 138-146. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntv089
Richardson EA, Hill S E, Mitchell R, Pearce J & Shortt NK (2015). Is local alcohol outlet density related toalcohol-related morbidity and mortality in Scottish cities? Health and Place, 33, 172-180.
Shortt NK, Tisch C, Pearce J, Richardson EA & Mitchell R (2016). The density of tobacco retailers in home and school environments and relationship with adolescent smoking behaviours in Scotland. Tobacco Control, 25(1), 75-82. https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2013-051473
Shortt NK, Rhynas S J & Holloway A (2017). Place and recovery from alcohol dependence: A journey through photovoice. Health & Place, 47, 147-155. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.08.008
Shortt NK, Rind E, Pearce J, Mitchell R & Curtis S (2018). Alcohol risk environments, vulnerability and social inequalities in alcohol consumption [Cross sectional]. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 108(5), 1210-1227. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2018.1431105