Maya Mikos

Cardiometabolic Health Initiative, RUSH Medical College, USA

Abstract Title: Effectiveness of the Mini?EAT Dietary Assessment for Evaluating Cardiometabolic Health Risk in a Food?Insecure Population

Biography: Maya completed her BA in Biology with a Minor in Human Rights from the University of Chicago. As a Researcher and Youth Scholar at the American College of Cardiology, she was the primary author of two academic pieces and presented findings at the ACC Annual Research Symposium in Washington, D.C. Her research interests include cardiovascular disease prevention, nutritional epidemiology, and health disparities in underserved communities. Maya has also contributed to health disparities research through CHARISMA at the University of Chicago Hospital and led community health outreach as President of MEDLIFE, providing medical care in Lima, Peru.

Research Interest: Diet quality is a modifiable behavioral risk factor for cardiovascular disease, yet its relationship to cardiometabolic biomarkers remains poorly characterized in food?insecure populations. The Cardiometabolic Health Initiative (CHI) is a physician?led, student?run community service organization that provides cardiometabolic screening and health coaching to underserved communities on the West Side of Chicago. The goal of this study was to evaluate associations between the Mini?EAT dietary assessment tool (scored 9–81) and cardiovascular risk indicators. These factors include total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk within a food?insecure adult cohort. This cross?sectional study linked Mini?EAT dietary responses with clinical measurements from patients engaged in cardiometabolic screening across food pantries on Chicago’s West Side. Associations between dietary variables and cardiometabolic markers were evaluated using Pearson and Spearman correlations, age?adjusted partial correlations, and tertile comparisons. Higher Mini?EAT total scores were significantly associated with lower total cholesterol (Pearson r = ?0.288, p = 0.021; Spearman ? = ?0.317, p = 0.011), and this association persisted after age adjustment (partial r = ?0.274, p = 0.029). Whole?grain intake was inversely associated with both ASCVD risk (r = ?0.291, p = 0.020) and systolic blood pressure (r = ?0.257, p = 0.041), with both relationships remaining significant after age adjustment. Vegetable intake was positively associated with HDL cholesterol (? = 0.304, p = 0.014), and legume/nut/seed intake was inversely associated with total cholesterol (? = ?0.249, p = 0.047). These findings demonstrate that higher diet quality scores and specific dietary components are significantly associated with more favorable lipid profiles and cardiovascular risk indicators in food?insecure adults, supporting the integration of brief dietary assessment tools into cardiovascular risk screening in underserved populations.