Background: Food deserts are neighborhoods with little or no access to healthy food, whereas food swamps are neighborhoods where unhealthy food options prevail over healthy ones. The main aims of the current study are to feature and compare the neighborhoods of food deserts and food swamps based on social inequality. Methods: Ecological study carried out in Belo Horizonte City, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Information about commercial food establishments derived from two different databases. It was measured by secondary governmental databases, which were virtually conferred in the present study. Census tracts were considered as analysis units and classified as food deserts and food swamps, based on the Brazilian methodology. Take into consideration the density of establishments classified as selling fresh or minimally-processed food, mixed establishments, and establishments selling ultra-processed food. The Brazilian methodology evaluates food deserts by the density of healthy establishments (establishments classified as mostly selling fresh or minimally-processed food and mixed establishments) per 10 thousand inhabitants. And the metric to evaluate food swamps considers the density of unhealthy establishments (establishments mostly selling ultra-processed food) per 10 thousand inhabitants. Information about social inequalities comprised aspects such as income, population count, number of households, number of literate individuals, race, water and energy supply, and garbage collection. The Health Vulnerability Index (HVI) was used as a synthetic social vulnerability indicator. Results: Neighborhoods of food deserts presented worse essential service availability, lower income per capita, and smaller mean number of literate individuals. Census tracts classified as food swamps presented better socio-demographic conditions than those areas food deserts. Neighborhoods simultaneously classified as food deserts and food swamps presented lower income per capita and were more often observed in census sectors presenting medium and high HVI. Conclusion: The food environment in Belo Horizonte was featured by the strong presence of food deserts and food swamps. However, the potential influence of these areas on food intake has changed depending on social inequalities.

O objetivo foi avaliar o ambiente alimentar comunitário e a existência de pântanos alimentares no entorno das escolas de uma metrópole brasileira. Trata-se de um estudo ecológico realizado em escolas públicas e privadas de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil, e teve como unidade de análise o buffer de 250m. Foram incluídas no estudo todas as escolas de Educação Infantil, de Ensinos Fundamental e Médio. Em relação às escolas, foram avaliadas a dependência administrativa e o tipo de ensino ofertado, bem como a renda per capita dos setores censitários das escolas. Contabilizou-se também as informações sobre os estabelecimentos de venda de alimentos para o consumo imediato que estavam dentro do buffer no entorno das escolas. Em relação ao ambiente alimentar foram avaliados apenas os estabelecimentos que comercializam alimentos para o consumo imediato no entorno escolar. A análise dos buffers revelou que 97,4% das escolas tinham ao menos um desses estabelecimentos no seu entorno. Os estabelecimentos mais disponíveis no entorno da escola foram lanchonetes, restaurantes e bares. As escolas localizadas em setores censitários de maior renda apresentavam maior média de todos os estabelecimentos no seu entorno, exceto das mercearias e supermercados. Ademais, 54,6% das escolas estavam em vizinhanças que são classificados como pântanos alimentares. Os resultados revelam que entre as categorias avaliadas ocorre um predomínio dos estabelecimentos que comercializam, predominantemente, alimentos ultraprocessados, como os bares e lanchonetes no entorno das escolas de Belo Horizonte, o que expõe as crianças e os adolescentes a um ambiente alimentar não saudável.

The aim of the current ecological study is to assess the evolution of food deserts and food swamps in the metropolitan city of Belo Horizonte between 2008 and 2020. Food deserts were determined based on the density of healthy establishments per 10,000 inhabitants, whereas food swamps were set based on the density of ultra-processed food procurement establishments per 10,000 inhabitants. The rate of census tracts classified as food deserts has decreased between 2008 and 2020, whereas that of census tracts classified as food swamps has increased within this same period. Furthermore, despite the reduced number of food deserts, these areas have increased in census tracts living under lower socioeconomic vulnerability condition. Food swamps recorded sharp increase in census tracts living under higher vulnerability condition. The population living in the herein investigated city has been increasingly exposed to an unhealthy community food environment over 12 years. Monitoring changes in community food environment is key strategy to enable tracking the effectiveness and efficiency of actions taken in food environments to ensure the human right to adequate food.