Food environment of fruits and vegetables in the territory of the Health Academy Program

Abstract

This study provides a spatial analysis of distribution and access to commercial fruit and vegetable establishments within the territory of a representative sample of public fitness facilities known as the Health Academy Program (HAP) in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The study evaluated commercial food establishments within a buffer area based on a radius of 1,600 meters around each of 18 randomly selected fitness facilities. Quality of access to fruits and vegetables was assessed by the Healthy Food Store Index (HFSI), consisting of the variables availability, variety, and advertising of fruits, vegetables and ultra-processed foods. The analysis was based on calculation of the Kernel intensity estimator, nearest neighbor method, and Ripley K-function. Of the 336 food establishments, 61.3% were green grocers and open-air markets, with a median HFSI of 11 (5 to 16). In only 17% of the territories, the majority of the “hot area” establishments displayed better access to healthy foods, and only three areas showed a clustering pattern. The study showed limited access to commercial establishments supplying healthy fruits and vegetables within the territory of the public fitness program.

Local food environment and fruit and vegetable consumption: An ecological study

“…Conversely, the three centres with higher FV consumption (1B, 2A and 7A) revealed the existence of a spatial cluster area of food stores, which was identified by the Kernel intensity estimator, and food stores with better access to healthy food (HFSI ≥ 13.1) (Costa et al, 2015). …”

“…Eighteen centres were selected for the study via simple conglomerate sampling stratified by the nine administrative regions of the city. These centres were representative of the HAP units with 95% confidence and < 1.4% error based on an estimation of the population proportion (Costa et al, 2015). …”

“…All commercial FV food stores contained within these buffer zones were included in the study (Costa et al, 2015). …”

“…The stores not registered in the list provided included informal stores, with recent activity or under implementation, between others. Such findings suggest the need for changes in data monitoring and updating, by encouraging regularization of commercial stores with the Municipal Government (Costa et al, 2015). …”

“…This instrument is a reliable tool adapted to the Brazilian context from several measures as the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (NEMS-S) (Duran et al, 2015b). Besides ESAO-S components, analysis of consumer nutrition environment included investigation of price and quality of food (Costa et al, 2015, Duran et al, 2015b). …”