Retail food environment in a Brazilian metropolis over the course of a decade: evidence of restricted availability of healthy foods.

<bold>Objective: </bold>To evaluate changes in the retail food environment profile in a Brazilian metropolis over a 10-year period.<bold>Design: </bold>An ecological study was conducted in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The addresses of formal food establishments were geocoded and classified according to their sold-food profile. Density changes were analysed according to neighbourhood, population size, income level and geospatial distribution.<bold>Setting: </bold>Totally, 468 neighbourhoods in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.<bold>Participants: </bold>Totally, 83 752 formal food establishments registered for operation in any one or more of those years: 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2018.<bold>Results: </bold>There was an increase in unhealthy establishments (154 %), followed by mixed (51 %) and healthy establishments (32 %), during the period evaluated, in addition to an increase in density according to income categories. There was a higher proportion of unhealthy establishments in relation to healthy establishments, indicating worsening of the community food environment over time.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Over the course of 10 years, changes in the neighbourhood's food environment were unfavourable for adequate access to healthy foods in lower-income neighbourhoods. The findings reinforce the need for interventions aimed at increasing the availability of businesses that offer healthy food in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]