The literature on community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches for promoting healthy diet, nutrition, and preventing and controlling obesity in African American communities was systematically reviewed.

CBPR studies of diet, nutrition, and weight management among African Americans were identified from 1989 through October 31, 2015 using PubMed and CINAHL databases and MeSH term and keyword searches.

A total of 16 CBPR studies on healthy diet, nutrition, and weight management among African Americans were identified; outcome evaluation results were available for all but two. Of the remaining 14 studies, 11 focused on adults, 1 on children, and 2 on both children and adults. Eight studies employed CBPR methods to address diet, nutrition, and weight management in church settings. Four had a cluster randomized controlled design. Others had a pre-post test, quasi-experimental, or uncontrolled design. Only one study addressed four levels of the socioecological model; none addressed all five levels of the model. The identified studies indicate that CBPR approaches can be effective for promoting healthy diet, nutrition, and weight management among African American adults but there is a need for additional studies with rigorous study designs that overcome methodologic limitations of many existing studies. There is only limited evidence for the effectiveness of CBPR approaches for promoting healthy eating and weight control among African American children and adolescents

To address health disparities, additional CBPR studies are needed to promote healthy diet, nutrition, and weight management in African American communities. Of particular interest are multilevel CBPR studies that include interventions aimed at multiple levels of the socioecological model.