A Trial of Behavioral Economic Interventions Among Food Pantry Clients

Food Preferences Clinical Trial

Official title:

A Randomized Trial of Web-based Behavioral Economic Interventions to Promote Healthy Food Choices Among Food Pantry Clients

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04011384
• Other study ID #: UPCC 06022
• Secondary ID: R01CA22950282970
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: July 5, 2019
• Est. completion date: December 21, 2022

Study information

• Verified date: February 2024
• Source: Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Obesity, unhealthy dietary habits, and food insecurity are major public health concerns, especially affecting individuals living in poverty. Food pantries, which provide free food to those in need, are increasingly interested in promoting healthy choices, but few rigorous studies have tested healthy eating interventions in food pantry settings. The overall objective of this proposal is to conduct a randomized-controlled trial among 500 regular food pantry clients to compare the influence of a behavioral economic intervention to promote healthier food choices delivered via a web-based ordering platform to usual care (control group).

Description:

The primary objective of this proposal is to evaluate the influence of a web-based behavioral economic intervention compared to a control group on the following outcomes among food pantry clients: 1) Nutritional quality of food chosen at the pantry using food transaction data; 2) Fruit and vegetable intake measured by biomarkers and food frequency questionnaires; 3) Objectively measured biomarkers of health. The web-based behavioral economic intervention will include the following modifications to the online shopping platform: 1) Healthy food shopping cart defaults, 2) healthy placement choice architecture, 3) traffic light nutrition labels, 4) social norms messaging, and 5) healthy swaps. Food transaction data will be collected from the online system at baseline and then continuously for the remaining 3 months of the study (participants typically shop monthly). Surveys and objective biomarkers will be collected at baseline and three-months.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 286
• Est. completion date: December 21, 2022
• Est. primary completion date: December 21, 2022
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• =18 years old

• primary grocery shopper for the family

• a regular in-person client at the food pantry (i.e., shops at pantry = 1 per month)

• able to use the web-based touchscreen ordering system

• able to use a blood pressure cuff and scale provided to them for taking blood pressure and weight

• able to come outside their home for 5 minutes for the Veggie Meter measurement

Exclusion Criteria:

• <18 years old

• not the primary grocery shopper for the family

• not a regular client at the food pantry (i.e., shops at pantry < 1 per month)

• not able to use the web-based touchscreen ordering system

• not able to use a blood pressure cuff and scale provided to them for taking blood pressure and weight

• not able to come outside their home for 5 minutes for the Veggie Meter measurement

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Food Preferences

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Behavioral economic intervention of online purchasing at a food pantry
This intervention includes multiple behavioral economic interventions, healthy food shopping cart defaults, healthy placement choice architecture, traffic light nutrition labels, social norms messaging, and healthy swaps.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania

Sponsors (4)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine	Massachusetts General Hospital, National Cancer Institute (NCI), University of Connecticut

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Mean Monthly Change in Number of Units of Healthier Foods	Average monthly change from baseline across 3 months of participation, in number of units of healthier foods (labeled with a green traffic light) purchased per shopping trip using the food pantry's definition of a unit.	Collected from the online system at baseline and then each month for the remaining 3 months of participation.
Primary	Mean Monthly Change in Number of Units of Less Healthy Foods	Average monthly change from baseline across 3 months of participation, in number of units of less healthy foods (labeled with a red or yellow traffic light) purchased per shopping trip using the food pantry's definition of a unit.	Collected from the online system at baseline and then each month for the remaining 3 months of participation.
Secondary	Mean Monthly Change in Calories From Healthier Foods Per Shopping Trip	Average monthly change from baseline across 3 months of participation, in number of calories from healthier foods per shopping trip.	Collected from the online system at baseline and then each month for the remaining 3 months of participation.
Secondary	Mean Monthly Change in Calories From Less Healthy Foods Per Shopping Trip	Average monthly change from baseline across 3 months of participation, in number of calories from less healthy foods per shopping trip.	Collected from the online system at baseline and then each month for the remaining 3 months of participation.
Secondary	Self-reported Change in Fruit and Vegetable Intake	Change from baseline in fruit and vegetable intake as measured by the National Cancer Institute (NCI)'s fruit and vegetable module of the Dietary Screener Questionnaire in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Scores estimate average daily cup equivalents of total fruit and vegetable servings.	Assessed at baseline and 3 months.
Secondary	Biomarker Change in Fruit and Vegetable Intake	Change from baseline in carotenoid levels (scores range 0-800) as measured by the VeggieMeter®. The VeggieMeter® is a spectroscopy-based skin carotenoid measurement device, created by Longevity Link Corporation in 2015. It uses pressure-mediated reflection spectroscopy (RS) to detect and quantify skin carotenoids as a proxy for fruit and vegetable intake in humans. Validation studies show VeggieMeter scores to be highly correlated with blood serum measures of carotenoids (R=.81). Higher units represent a higher concentration of carotenoids in the skin.	Assessed at baseline and 3 months.
Secondary	Change in Body Mass Index (BMI)	Change from baseline in BMI (weight in kg / height in meters^2)	Assessed at baseline and 3 months.
Secondary	Change in Systolic Blood Pressure	Change from baseline in systolic blood pressure (indicator of heart health)	Assessed at baseline and 3 months.
Secondary	Change in Diastolic Blood Pressure	Change from baseline in diastolic blood pressure (indicator of heart health)	Assessed at baseline and 3 months.