In the News
Study from PHI’s Center for Wellness and Nutrition Shows How HealthyFood RX is Transforming Diabetes Care
Abbott’s Healthy Food Rx is one of the largest community-focused “food is medicine programs” in the United States. In Nutrition Insight, Erika Takada, executive director of PHI’s Center for Wellness and Nutrition (CWN), discusses how the program is helping people living with diabetes in Stockton’s economically underserved communities and shares recent CWN clinical trial that show clinically important benefits among Healthy Food Rx participants living with diabetes.
- Nutrition Insight
-
Focus Areas
Chronic Disease Prevention, Healthy Communities -
Issues
Nutrition & Food Security -
Expertise
Health Education & Promotion -
Programs
Center for Wellness and Nutrition
“New research evidences that Abbott’s Healthy Food Rx “food is medicine” program helped US participants living with diabetes eat more vegetables and fruit, with participants reporting “significantly improved” diet quality and health status.
The community program provides home-delivered healthy food boxes and nutrition education in Stockton, California, where 60% of the population has diabetes or pre-diabetes.
Launched in 2021, Healthy Food Rx is one of the largest community-focused “food is medicine programs” in the country, reaching more than 1,700 participants to date.
“Living with diabetes in an economically underserved community can present numerous challenges, from limited access to affordable, healthy foods to a lack of appropriate health services,” says Erika Takada, executive director of the Public Health Institute Center for Wellness and Nutrition.
Even with a program that reaches participants just twice a month, we are seeing benefits in people with diabetes eating better foods and feeling healthier. This underscores the foundational role that good nutrition can play in helping to address the impact of diabetes and other chronic diseases on our families and communities.Erika Takada
Executive Director, Center for Wellness and Nutrition, Public Health Institute
Healthier dietary outcomes
These clinical trial findings build on the results of an earlier 12-month study that showed clinically important benefits among Healthy Food Rx participants living with diabetes.
Conducted by the Public Health Institute Center for Wellness and Nutrition, this clinical trial assessed the impact of Abbott’s Healthy Food Rx in a highly food-insecure, low-income, community-based setting of 364 people living with diabetes over six months.
Health educators recruited participants and randomized them into two groups. The intervention group received home-delivered, meal-based food boxes once every other week for six months with nutrition education in the form of recipes, cooking videos, and text messages.
The boxes included ingredients for a family-sized healthy meal, including lean protein, vegetables and fruits, as well as pantry staples such as beans, rice, and nuts.
Meanwhile, the control group received the intervention after the six-month study period.
All participants received usual care, including potential medication prescriptions and optional diabetes education and social needs referrals.
Study findings
Healthy Food Rx participants reported significantly increased vegetable consumption compared to the control group (0.37 versus 0.03 increased servings per day) and increased fruit consumption compared to the control group (0.3 versus 0.2 increased servings per day).
Participants reported significantly greater improvements in self-reported physical health status over six months (from 38–63%), compared to the control group (from 47–50%).
The researchers also employed the A1C test, which reflects a person’s average glucose levels over the past three months. A1C levels significantly improved for both Healthy Food Rx participants and the control group. Levels decreased by 0.7% and 1.2% in the intervention group and control group, respectively.
Both values exceeded the widely accepted 0.5% benchmark, which is considered a clinically significant change and is associated with improved health outcomes in people with diabetes.
Click on the link below to read the full article.
Related Articles
Abbott’s ‘Food is Medicine’ programme improves diet quality and health, study reveals / Nutraceutical Business Review
Originally published by Nutrition Insight
More Updates
Webinar Series: Infrastructure for Studying Treatment & Addiction Recovery Residences
Preliminary Research Shows Grandfather’s Environmental Chemical Exposures May Influence When Girls Get First Period
Salinas Valley Tribune: PHI’s HPI Tool Utilized to Guide Support to Arts Organizations in Under-Resourced Communities
Work With Us
You change the world. We do the rest. Explore fiscal sponsorship at PHI.
Support Us
Together, we can accelerate our response to public health’s most critical issues.
Find Employment
Begin your career at the Public Health Institute.
