New paper: Availability of healthy foods may decrease hypertension

“Neighborhood Characteristics and Hypertension,” authored by Mahasin Mujahid and others, was recently published in Epidemiology. From the abstract: The goal of this study was to investigate cross-sectional associations between features of neighborhoods and hypertension and to examine the sensitivity of results to various methods of estimating neighborhood conditions. We used data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis on 2612 individuals 45-85 years of age…. Neighborhood (census tract) conditions potentially related to hypertension (walking environment, availability of healthy foods, safety, social cohesion) were measured using information from a separate phone survey conducted in the study neighborhoods…. Residents of neighborhoods with better walkability, availability of healthy foods, greater safety, and more social cohesion were less likely to be hypertensive.