Food Pharmacy Implementation to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk through Nutritional Awareness

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a prevalent condition that disproportionately affects low-socioeconomic patients. Additionally, these patients are more likely to experience adverse outcomes, including increased morbidity and mortality. Considering the well-established links between cardiovascular disease-poverty-and poor diet, there is notable opportunity to modify nutrition risk and address the issue of dietary habits for at risk communities. By integrating nutrition into the health care system, food-based interventions can be used to prevent, manage, and treat diet-related diseases. Food Pharmacies are such an intervention, used to target social determinants of health and to promote cardiovascular wellness.

Purpose: To reduce CVD risk within a low-income community by removing barriers to healthy eating, increasing nutrition literacy, and integrating / coordinating nutrition interventions between the local community and healthcare system.

Methods: An evidence-based food pharmacy program was established within a low-income urban community. The intervention was implemented by volunteer healthcare workers. Intervention components included health screenings, education, primary care referrals, meal planning, assisted shopping, and recipe sharing. Process and outcome measures focused on resource coordination, dietary habits, nutrition literacy/awareness, and screening data. Measures were assessed via nutrition literacy and dietary habits surveys, BP, A1C, weight, and total cholesterol.

Results: The food pharmacy had 236 visits over 3 months which included 28 primary care referrals, 78 education sessions, 79 assisted shopping sessions, and 109 health screenings. Approximately 62% of clients who visited the food bank on program days chose to participate in the food pharmacy initiative. Over half of the survey respondents reported regular consumption of produce. The average nutrition literacy score was 60%.

Conclusion: Results demonstrate how food pharmacies impact health equity by addressing structural barriers to nutrition and how multimodal interventions may accommodate diverse population needs. Practice recommendations include continued collaboration between local stakeholders for program investment, engagement, and sustainability. Future implications include a need for resources that increase visitation among underserved groups due to language or cultural barriers.