Avaliação do ambiente alimentar de varejo no município de Rio Largo – AL

Abstract

Ultra-processed food products (UPP) are ready-to-eat industrial formulations made from laboratory-synthesized substances derived from foods and other organic sources such as oil and coal. They are products with low nutritional quality and have high amounts of salt, fats, sugars, and food additives. The environmental factor is one of the main factors discussed in the current literature as a potential contributor to the increase in the consumption of UPP. The food environment is a concept that encompasses the physical space (type, location, institutional insertion and accessibility to the food point of sale), access (price, availability and position on the shelves) and the characteristics of the food sold (nutritional quality, palatability and labeling). These aspects influence the formation and the maintenance of eating habits and choices positively or negatively and, consequently, the health conditions of the population in this environment. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the retail food environment in the municipality of Rio Largo - AL. This is a crosssectional study, part of a broader project entitled “Health, Food, Nutrition and Child Development – SAND: a cohort study”, that aimed at establishing a cohort that followed children from the city of Rio Largo/AL. Data collection was carried out from 2017 to 2018. Food stores were identified by street audit, using the instrument Nutrition Environment Measurement Survey for Stores (NEMS-S) in its adapted and validated version for the Brazilian population. Descriptive analyzes were performed to assess the absolute and relative availability of the 21 UPP present in our list, according to the types of food trade establishments. Such statistical analyzes were performed using the Stata 13.0 software. Thematic maps were also drawn up in order to identify the distribution of establishments and density of commercial establishments in Rio Largo, besides the clusters where the agglomerations occur. Spatial analyses were performed using QGIS software version 3.20.3. A total of 574 commercial establishments in the municipality of Rio Largo were evaluated. About 32% of the establishments were of the grocery/emporium type (20.4%), followed by candy retail and wholesale trade (20.4%) and open market/fruit stand (13.6%). Most of the points of sale were closed environment (85.5%), fixed points (95.85) and were mostly frequented by adults (68.5%). Regarding the classification of commercial establishments, it was possible to observe a low frequency of healthy stores and a high frequency of stores classified as unhealthy.