MAPPING THE AVAILABILITY OF HEALTHY FOOD IN BUENOS AIRES

Background and objectives: Dietary behaviors are a result of a complex relation between multiple factors: individual, mental, social and environmental. In recent years there has been a surge in interest in understanding how the environment influences the health of a population, both directly and also in forming the context in which decisions for it are made. It has been widely studied that availability and accessibility are key factors for the adoption of healthy lifestyles. The presence of food shops and the availability of healthy products at them are important contributors to the dietary patterns of a population. Therefore, we proposed constructing a georeferenced map of healthy food in the city of Buenos Aires to facilitate its consumption. Methods: This study is part of the #MeHaceBien project of the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires and was carried out together with Nutrition students at the Universidad Isalud. Taking into account the limitations on human resources initial we decided to include healthy food stores with low visibility, stores that would be accessible to vulnerable groups and/or shops promoting a non-industrialized and non-agrotoxic diet. The methods of the search used were virtual (websites), fieldwork and interviews with people knowledgeable in the area. Data collection was carried out between April and June 2016. All resources were validated. A geogreferenced map was created on Google Maps indicating location, telephone number, website address, food offered with days and times. Results: a total of 401 health food store were mapped, such as supply fairs neighborhood (110), fish markets (53), health food stores (100), organic food retailers (42), and restaurants that focused on healthy, gluten-free, vegan or organic foods (95). In addition vegetable garden and healthy cooking classes were identified. Conclusions: We believe that healthy food mapping could be an innovative tool to facilitate accessibility and adherence to healthy eating, as well as a future opportunity for collaborative work with the community to map healthy foods in their neighborhoods.