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Lack of fresh food options associated with higher risk for coronary atherosclerosis
New research published in Circulation suggests that closer proximity to healthy food resources may slow the development of coronary atherosclerosis in middle-aged and older adults.
“The lack of healthy food stores may help explain why people in [certain] neighborhoods have more heart disease,” Jeffrey Wing, PhD, MPH, assistant professor in the department of public health at Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, said in a press release. “The thought is that greater access to healthier foods may have promoted healthier diets and, in turn, less coronary plaque formation.”
Jeffrey Wing
Researchers analyzed data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) during a 12-year follow-up period to assess whether social and physical neighborhood characteristics are linked to the development of subclinical atherosclerosis.
The study included 5,950 adult participants from six U.S. cities who underwent a CT scan at the start of MESA to detect the amount of coronary atherosclerosis. Coronary artery calcium (CAC) readings were given to 86% of the participants on three separate occasions (average interval, 3.5 years).
Neighborhoods with an increased density of healthy food options were associated with decreases in CAC, after adjustment for time-varying demographic confounders, CT scanner type and other time-varying behavioral risk factors. The researchers calculated that the mean change in CAC Agatston units per 1-SD increase in neighborhood exposure was –19.99 (95% CI, –35.21 to –4.78).
At baseline, the percentage of MESA participants with CAC > 0 was lower (45%) in the highest quartile of healthy food density vs. other quartiles (range, 49% to 50%).
When the researchers added time-varying biomedical risk factors, it slightly weakened the association with CAC (mean change in CAC Agatston units per 1-SD increase in neighborhood exposure, –17.6; 95% CI, –32.21 to –2.49).
“We found that healthy food stores within 1 mile of their home was the only significant factor that reduced or slowed the progression of [CAC],” Ella August, PhD, clinical assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, stated in the release.
The researchers noted that future studies should examine the impact of specific interventions, such as promoting the location of healthy food stores and how neighborhood characteristics may interact with individual risk factors and genetic predispositions, according to the release.
“Improving our understanding of the interrelated neighborhood factors that affect health outcomes can lead to the creation of impactful and sustainable interventions that alter the function of the systems that cultivate special inequities,” Adelaida M. Rosario, PhD, and Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD, wrote in a related editorial. “Local and regional policy makers need to implement changes that promote the integration of diverse and health neighborhoods and reduce residential social class segregation that perpetuate the existing cycle of food deserts, low economic development, low functioning schools, more violence and its related health disparities.” – by Dave Quaile
Disclosure: The researchers, Pérez-Stable and Rosario report no relevant financial disclosures.