Approved research

The relationship between the food environment and cardiovascular outcomes

Lay summary

This study will assess the influence of the people's access to different types of food outlet, including supermarkets and takeaways, on cardiovascular outcomes. We hypothesise that such associations will be mediated through effects of the food environment on diet and body composition. Thus diet and body composition are intermediate outcomes in this research. This research is consistent with UK Biobank's aim to improve prevention of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Identification of relationships between the food environment and risk factors for cardiovascular disease has the potential to influence public health policy on the prevention of these chronic conditions. Studying UK Biobank participants from Greater London for whom food environment data has been collected, we will explore the relationship between food outlet density and proximity, and diet, and DXA and MRI measures of body composition. In the second phase of research we will assess associations of the food outlet measures with blood analytes that are known markers of cardiovascular disease. In the third phase we will explore whether associations between the food environment and cardiovascular outcomes differ according to known genotypes for raised cholesterol, hypertension and other cardiovascular outcomes. We will study the 50,000 participants in Greater London who took part in the foodscape component of the study.