Young adults facing food insecurity are at a 41% higher risk of developing heart disease in midlife, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. The findings could transform how health care providers screen for and address food insecurity to reduce heart disease.
Young adults grappling with food insecurity today could encounter serious heart problems tomorrow. A new study by Northwestern Medicine has found a striking 41% increase in the risk of developing heart disease among individuals who struggled to afford nutritious food in their early 30s to mid-40s.
The study, published today in JAMA Cardiology, underscores a critical link between food insecurity and long-term cardiovascular health. It analyzed data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a long-term cohort study that has followed a diverse group of Black and white U.S. adults since the mid-1980s.
Dr. Jenny Jia, an instructor of general internal medicine and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine internist, stresses the importance of this finding.
“We’ve known that food insecurity and heart disease often go hand in hand, but this study shows, for the first time, that food insecurity comes first,” she said in a news release. “That makes it a clear target for prevention — if we address food insecurity early, we may be able to reduce the burden of heart disease later.”
Study Offers Groundbreaking Insights
Jia and her colleagues examined health outcomes of 3,616 participants from the early 2000s over the next 20 years.
They found that 11% of those experiencing food insecurity developed heart disease, compared to only 6% among food-secure individuals. This finding remained significant even after accounting for demographic and socioeconomic factors.
Jia highlighted the causal direction of this relationship, resolving the long-standing “chicken-or-the-egg” question regarding food insecurity and heart disease.
“By following people over two decades, we were able to show that food insecurity, on its own, significantly increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease,” Jia added.
Implications for Health Care Providers
The study underscores the urgent need for health care providers to screen for food insecurity as a preventive measure against heart disease. Primary care settings, emergency rooms and specialty clinics are ideal venues for such screenings, according to Jia.
“Because there tends to be a lot of trust between primary care providers and patients,” Jia said, these settings provide a unique opportunity to address food insecurity early.
Jia also advocates for the use of diverse strategies to help those who screen positive for food insecurity.
“Do we connect them to social workers who can refer them to existing community programs? Should health care systems develop their own interventions? These are the next big questions,” she added.
Future Directions
Moving forward, Jia and her team plan to continue monitoring the study participants into older age.
“It’s surprising to see heart disease in this group, which doesn’t include those 65 or older,” added Jia. “As they near 80, we plan to revisit the study to explore the evolving link to heart disease.”
The CARDIA study was supported by the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and carried out in collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Northwestern University, the University of Minnesota and the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute.
The findings from this study not only reveal a crucial public health issue but also point toward actionable steps that could be taken to mitigate the risk of heart disease through early intervention and comprehensive community support.
Source: Northwestern University