Abstract
Green spaces are hypothesised to have ‘equigenic’ properties that disrupt the conversion of socioeconomic inequities into health inequalities. We aimed to determine whether socioeconomic status and green space visitation (as opposed to total nearby green space) predict body mass index (BMI), and if so, whether green space has the potential to help level-up the socioeconomic gradient in BMI. In a sample of 1433 Sydney and Brisbane residents who filled out a survey on nature visitations and experiences, we found no association between BMI and income, nor between BMI and green space visitation across different levels of income. However, we did find that lower education predicted higher BMI levels, and association between higher green space visitation frequency (but not duration or diversity) with lower BMI was mainly observed for less educated participants only. The scale of potential equigenic effect was 2.13 kg/m2, resulting from a BMI gap of 0.87 kg/m2 between high versus low educated participants at higher green space visit frequency, compared to a gap of 3.0 kg/m2 at low visit frequency.