Objective: Food delivery apps represent an important and emerging dimension of the digital food environment. This study aimed to examine food availability and the use of marketing strategies by two food delivery apps in a Brazilian metropolis.Design: An exploratory study was conducted in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Food groups were identified and the use of price discounts and photos by the apps was observed.Setting: Eighteen neighbourhoods and the ten best rated restaurants in each app.Participants: Three hundred sixty-two commercial food establishments.Results: The proportion of ultra-processed beverages on offer in the apps (78·45 %) was much higher in comparison with water (48·89 %), natural juices or smoothies (27·07 %). Ultra-processed ready-to-eat meals represented almost 70 % of the food offered in the establishments’ menus, while traditional meals and vegetables represented just over 30 % of the offering. Ice cream, candies and salty packaged snacks were nine times more frequently presented than fruits. The use of photos and price discounts prevailed predominantly among ultra-processed beverages, sandwiches and ice cream, candies and salty packaged snacks. These marketing strategies were least used for promoting fruits and vegetables.Conclusions: Restaurants registered on food delivery apps offered a significant amount of ultra-processed foods with price discounts and photos in comparison with unprocessed and minimally processed foods.

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.

Objective: To map the scientific research on food environments in Brazil, based on the following questions: How many studies have addressed food environments?; What study designs and methodological approaches were applied?; What is the geographic scope of the studies?; What scenarios and dimensions of food environments were studied?; Which population groups were studied?; How were food environments conceptualised?; What are the main limitations of the studies?Design: Scoping review conducted in four databases, from January 2005 to December 2022, using different food environment-related terms to cover the main types and dimensions proposed in the literature. The studies were independently selected by two authors. A narrative synthesis was used to summarise the findings.Setting: Brazil.Participants: 130 articles.Results: Scientific research on Brazilian food environments has been increasing. The analytical quantitative approach and the cross-sectional design were the most frequently used. Most articles were published in English. The majority of studies evaluated the community food environment, addressed aspects of the physical dimension, sampled the adult population, had food consumption as an outcome, used primary data, and were carried out in capital cities in the Southeast region. Furthermore, in most articles, no conceptual model was explicitly adopted.Conclusions: Gaps in literature are related to the need for conducting studies in the Brazilian countryside, the support for the formulation of research questions based on conceptual models, the use of valid and reliable instruments to collect primary data, in addition to the need for a greater number of longitudinal, intervention and qualitative studies.

Studies on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption patterns can help in the individual and population level management of chronic non-communicable diseases and other conditions. This study aimed to identify the association between health behavior patterns and the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among Brazilian adolescents from a nationally representative school-based study. A cross-sectional study analyzed data from 71,553 adolescents aged 12–17 years who attended public and private schools in Brazilian cities, from the Study of Cardiovascular Risk in Adolescents. Principal component analysis was performed to identify health behavior patterns, and ordered logistic regression was performed to identify the association between health behavior patterns and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (mL/day) was used as the dependent variable. The analyses were performed using Stata software version 14.0 with a significance level of 0.05. Patterns 2 (alcoholic beverage and smoking habit) and 3 (ultra-processed food and screen time) of health behaviors and regularly purchasing snacks in the school cafeteria increased the odds of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, while pattern 1 (water, unprocessed and minimally processed food and physical activity) decreased these odds. The adoption of healthy habits can indirectly stimulate the adoption of other habits beneficial to health. These results indicate the importance of adopting a set of regulatory measures to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.

Resumo Conhecer o ambiente alimentar a que as famílias beneficiárias do Programa Bolsa Família (PBF) estão expostas é necessário para identificar a exposição a ambientes que favoreçam piores escolhas alimentares. O objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar o ambiente alimentar comunitário da zona urbana do município de Ouro Preto e do entorno das residências das famílias beneficiárias do PBF. Trata-se de um estudo ecológico, conduzido com dados do Sistema de Cadastro Único e da Secretaria Estadual da Fazenda, ambos de 2014, e do Censo 2010. Foram realizadas análises espaciais para avaliar as aglomerações de famílias beneficiárias e de estabelecimentos. Os setores censitários (SC) periféricos e com menor renda per capita apresentaram pouco ou nenhum local de venda de alimentos, bem como maior aglomeração de famílias beneficiárias do PBF, que estão mais próximas a estabelecimentos considerados não saudáveis (mediana: 65,73 metros). Verificou-se maior concentração de locais de venda de alimentos, sobretudo não saudáveis, nos SC de localização central e de maior renda per capita (59,2%). Nesse caso, torna-se relevante o diálogo com outras políticas públicas interrelacionadas com a nutrição, visando reduzir as iniquidades e contribuir para melhorar o acesso físico a estabelecimentos de venda de alimentos saudáveis.