Associations between the neighbourhood food environment and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review.

We conducted a systematic review to examine the relationship between the neighbourhood food environment and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults. We searched for studies published between 1 January 2000 and 1 May 2022 in 3 major medical databases and included 15 studies. These studies were mostly conducted in North American or European countries, and most of them focused on exposure to fast-food restaurants. Overall, these studies suggest that there is a relationship between a higher density of fast-food restaurants and CVD. Three studies also examined other aspects of the food environment, such as density of food service restaurants, unhealthy food outlets, and food access score, but the evidence for these aspects was scarce. We concluded that there is evidence to suggest that the neighbourhood food environment is associated with CVD, particularly a higher fast-food restaurant density. However, more research is needed to understand other aspects of the food environment.