The purpose was to determine the effectiveness of a worksite-based Fruit & Vegetable Prescription (Rx) program designed to increase intake of fruits, vegetables, and other health-promoting foods and improve diet quality and health outcomes. This project was a subset of our Community Health Opportunities Organized with Schools at the Epicenter (CHOOSE) core research project, with the Griffin Hospital worksite serving as a community portal.
Further Study Details:
The PRC partnered with Wholesome Wave® to adapt and pilot test a Fruit and Vegetable Rx program offered elsewhere by Wholesome Wave® in clinical settings. The 58 study participants (Griffin Hospital employees) were randomly assigned to either Fruit and Vegetable Rx or control/no intervention. The Fruit and Vegetable Rx group attended 10 educational/skill-building sessions (45 minutes each) and received vouchers to buy fruits and vegetables. Sessions focused on nutritious, affordable, easy-to-prepare meals and cooking demonstrations. Control group members maintained their usual habits, and did not receive any incentives. All participants received a $50 gift card at each data collection time point (3 for the intervention group, 2 for the control group).
Findings:
After the intervention: Overall diet quality increased by 5.3 points out of 100 in the intervention group, and by 1.7 points in the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant. Intervention group members significantly reduced their intake of “empty calories” as compared to those in the control group. There were no effects on weight, waist circumference, body fat percentage, blood pressure, blood lipids, or hemoglobin A1c. More than 90% of intervention group members said the program helped them to increase their fruit and vegetable intake, and 78% said their diet was somewhat or much more healthful than before starting the program. There were no differences between groups in terms of cooking skills or household meal practices.By 3 months after the intervention: The reduction in empty calories was maintained in the intervention group, but no longer significantly different from the change in the control group (who also reduced their intake of empty calories).
Eligibility:
Griffin Hospital employees who were willing/able to participate in weekly lunch & learn nutrition and cooking sessions for a 10-week period.
Evaluation:
Outcome measures included body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, body fat, blood lipids, hemoglobin A1C, and diet quality based on 24-hour diet recalls. All participants were asked to complete surveys on their food and beverage intake, household meal practices, cooking skills, physical activity, and medication use. Those in the fruit and vegetable group completed a brief survey at each session.
Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center