Food Establishment Density in Saudi Arabia: A Spatial Density Analysis

Food Establishment Density in Saudi Arabia: A Spatial Density Analysis | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Food Establishment Density in Saudi Arabia: A Spatial Density Analysis Omar Alhumaidan, Mohammed Alsaif, Khalid Aldubayan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9127792/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background Access to healthy food is a key determinant of diet and noncommunicable disease risk, yet national evidence on the spatial distribution of food outlets in Saudi Arabia is limited. This study estimated the density and composition of urban food establishments and derived reference ranges for the modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI) as an indicator of healthy food access. Methods We conducted a cross‑sectional spatial analysis of food establishments in 14 major Saudi cities using 1‑km² grid cells and business listings from Google Maps. Establishments were classified into restaurants (fast‑food, rice‑based, dine‑in), coffee shops, confectionery shops, supermarkets, grocery stores, fresh produce outlets, bakeries, and butchers. Grid‑level densities (establishments/km²) and mRFEI scores were calculated, and population‑weighted bootstrap resampling with 10,000 iterations was used to derive city‑specific reference ranges and percentile distributions. Results Median total food establishment density ranged from approximately 25.5 establishments/km² in Hail to 57.6/km² in Jeddah; Riyadh had a median of 40.9/km². Coffee shops and restaurants dominated the food environment (national median densities 7.1 and 6.8 establishments/km², respectively), whereas supermarkets remained sparse (median 0.7 establishments/km²) and fresh produce outlets were limited. Median mRFEI scores clustered between 0.29 and 0.34 in most cities, with Buraydah highest at 0.42, indicating that only about one‑third of outlets in typical urban grids were fresh food outlets. Conclusion Urban food environments in Saudi Arabia are characterized by high densities of restaurants and coffee shops but relatively few fresh food outlets, yielding modest mRFEI values nationwide. These national reference ranges for food establishment density and mRFEI can inform nutrition policies, zoning, and regulatory interventions aimed at improving access to healthy foods in Saudi cities. Food environment food retail density mRFEI spatial analysis Saudi Arabia nutrition policy Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers invited by journal 15 Apr, 2026 Editor invited by journal 19 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 18 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 15 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9127792","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":606868912,"identity":"34626b29-d66b-49e9-b2ac-8dbd092ddfcf","order_by":0,"name":"Omar Alhumaidan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABAUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHhAhwdjAwHyAoYKNNC1sCQxnSNDCANTCY0CcFn72s8ekbtRYyPbP7vn84UCZHYO8e48B448a3Foke/LSpHOOSRjPuHN2m8SBc8kMhmfOGDDzHMOtxeBAjpl0DptEYsON3G3MH9uYGQxnpCUwM+BxocH5N0At/yQS59/IefzhYFs9WAvjj394tNwA2pLbJpG44UYOg8TBtsMM8hLJBxh42/D4ZcYbY+vcPgnjjTfSzIB+Oc5jwHP4wGHePtxa+PlzDG/nfKuTnXcj+TEwxKrl5NsbGx/++IZbCwbgMTjAwHCABA1AIN9AmvpRMApGwSgY/gAAO9lUt+tHU4UAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Omar","middleName":"","lastName":"Alhumaidan","suffix":""},{"id":606868913,"identity":"57f26ff2-f660-4720-a99c-1efb4e6d12d4","order_by":1,"name":"Mohammed Alsaif","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mohammed","middleName":"","lastName":"Alsaif","suffix":""},{"id":606868914,"identity":"a6cdae7c-cb90-4a02-88f7-878906ad3bab","order_by":2,"name":"Khalid Aldubayan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"King Saud University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Khalid","middleName":"","lastName":"Aldubayan","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-15 10:08:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9127792/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9127792/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105727677,"identity":"3cd6d52a-2a46-4960-9e0c-78c8449c4596","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-30 11:00:09","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":908522,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"FoodEstablishmentDensityinSaudiArabiaASpatialDensityAnalysisV11.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9127792/v1_covered_ee208e62-be27-476c-aae0-644a24601077.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Food Establishment Density in Saudi Arabia: A Spatial Density Analysis","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-nutrition","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"nutn","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Nutrition](http://bmcnutr.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/nutn/default.aspx","title":"BMC Nutrition","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Food environment, food retail density, mRFEI, spatial analysis, Saudi Arabia, nutrition policy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9127792/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9127792/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eBackground\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAccess to healthy food is a key determinant of diet and noncommunicable disease risk, yet national evidence on the spatial distribution of food outlets in Saudi Arabia is limited. This study estimated the density and composition of urban food establishments and derived reference ranges for the modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI) as an indicator of healthy food access.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe conducted a cross‑sectional spatial analysis of food establishments in 14 major Saudi cities using 1‑km\u0026sup2; grid cells and business listings from Google Maps. Establishments were classified into restaurants (fast‑food, rice‑based, dine‑in), coffee shops, confectionery shops, supermarkets, grocery stores, fresh produce outlets, bakeries, and butchers. Grid‑level densities (establishments/km\u0026sup2;) and mRFEI scores were calculated, and population‑weighted bootstrap resampling with 10,000 iterations was used to derive city‑specific reference ranges and percentile distributions.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eMedian total food establishment density ranged from approximately 25.5 establishments/km\u0026sup2; in Hail to 57.6/km\u0026sup2; in Jeddah; Riyadh had a median of 40.9/km\u0026sup2;. Coffee shops and restaurants dominated the food environment (national median densities 7.1 and 6.8 establishments/km\u0026sup2;, respectively), whereas supermarkets remained sparse (median 0.7 establishments/km\u0026sup2;) and fresh produce outlets were limited. Median mRFEI scores clustered between 0.29 and 0.34 in most cities, with Buraydah highest at 0.42, indicating that only about one‑third of outlets in typical urban grids were fresh food outlets.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusion\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eUrban food environments in Saudi Arabia are characterized by high densities of restaurants and coffee shops but relatively few fresh food outlets, yielding modest mRFEI values nationwide. These national reference ranges for food establishment density and mRFEI can inform nutrition policies, zoning, and regulatory interventions aimed at improving access to healthy foods in Saudi cities.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Food Establishment Density in Saudi Arabia: A Spatial Density Analysis","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-17 13:14:42","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9127792/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-04-15T13:19:04+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2026-03-19T07:09:58+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-03-19T03:34:58+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-03-19T03:34:00+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"BMC Nutrition","date":"2026-03-15T10:06:15+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-nutrition","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"nutn","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Nutrition](http://bmcnutr.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/nutn/default.aspx","title":"BMC Nutrition","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"52fb65e5-0ee4-4996-a9e9-8c71068ade63","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 17th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-15T13:24:17+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-17 13:14:42","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9127792","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9127792","identity":"rs-9127792","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}