A longitudinal analysis of the fluctuation of food stores in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 23; no. 1; p. 2454
• Main Authors: de Freitas, Patrícia Pinheiro, Lopes, Mariana Souza, Costa, Bruna Vieira de Lima, Sales, Denise Marques, de Menezes, Mariana Carvalho, Jaime, Patrícia Constante, Lopes, Aline Cristine Souza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 07-12-2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Analysis; Audits; Brazil; Buffers; Commerce; Data collection; Data entry; Ecological studies; Exercise; Food; Food environment; Food stores; Food Supply; Forecasts and trends; Fruit; Fruits; Fruits and vegetables; Grocery industry; Health aspects; Health care industry; Health promotion; Health service environments; Humans; Longitudinal study; Marketing; Nutrition; Nutritional status; Physical fitness; Primary health care; Residence Characteristics; Service areas; Stability; Supermarkets; Vegetables; Brazil; Health service environments; Food stores; Fruits and vegetables; Food environment; Longitudinal study
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-17350-8

Changes in food environments have the potential to affect consumption, nutritional status, and health, and understanding these changes is of utmost importance. This study, therefore, aimed to examine the fluctuation of food stores that sell fruits and vegetables over five years in the health promotion service area of Primary Health Care (PHC) in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
This was an ecological study that used data from a food environment audit conducted in the realm of Brazilian PHC. Buffers of 1 mile (equivalent to 1600 m) were created around health promotion services to define food environments. All food stores and open-air food markets that sold fruits and vegetables (FV) within this buffer area were considered eligible. The data collection was performed during two periods: the baseline, in 2013, and after five years, in 2018. This study compares the fluctuation by the type of stores and according to the health vulnerability index (HVI).
After 5 years, 35.2% of the stores were stable; 154 stores were closed, and 155 were opened. The stability was greater in low-vulnerability areas, and the fluctuation differed by type of store only for areas with high vulnerability. The number of supermarket decreased in high HVI territories; and local stores, showed greater stability when compared to specialized FV markets.
The differences in store fluctuations according to the vulnerability of areas demonstrate the importance of food supply policies considering the local characteristics to reduce inequities of access to healthy foods.