ABSTRACT
This study aimed to investigate the relationship between exposure to food deserts and food consumption markers among school-aged children monitored by the Brazilian Food and Nutrition Surveillance System (SISVAN). Microdata from 63,426 children from 1,655 municipalities in 2016 was used for healthy and unhealthy food consumption markers, and the variables ‘absence of consumption of in natura/minimally processed foods’ and ‘maximum consumption of ultra-processed foods’ were created. Municipal classification into food deserts was based on the density of healthy establishments. Poisson regression models adjusted for individual and municipal characteristics were used to estimate Prevalence Ratios (PR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (95% CI) for the occurrence of food markers according to exposure to food deserts. Food deserts were associated with worse municipal human development and inequality scores. There was an association between exposure to food deserts and a higher frequency of absence of consumption of in natura/minimally processed foods (PR: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.24) and maximum consumption of ultra-processed foods (PR: 1.07, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.24). We conclude that exposure to food deserts was associated with the profile of food consumption markers in school-aged children monitored by SISVAN.
KEYWORDS
Food deserts; Environment; Food consumption; Children; Food and Nutritional Surveillance