Produce Prescriptions and Veggie Meter Scores for College Food Security

Official title

Produce Prescriptions and Veggie-Meter Scores: A Feasibility and Pilot Study of an 8-Week Produce Box Intervention to Improve Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Food Security in College Students

Overview

The goal of this pilot intervention study is to learn if providing weekly produce boxes helps college students who struggle to afford healthy food. It will also test if this program is practical to run on a college campus. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does receiving free produce boxes increase students' fruit and vegetable intake? * Does the program improve students' food security and nutrient levels in the skin? Researchers will measure skin carotenoids (a marker of healthy eating) using a non-invasive finger scan called a Veggie Meter to see if the produce boxes improve nutrition biomarkers. Participants will: * Receive one free box of fresh fruits and vegetables plus printed nutrition education materials every week for 8 weeks. * Visit the campus site at the start, week 4 and end of the study \[week 8\] for a finger scan, measure their weight and to complete surveys. * Provide feedback on their experience with the produce boxes and their food access.

Interventions

• Other Produce boxes
  The Produce Prescription Program provides a weekly, box of fresh produce specifically curated for high carotenoid content (e.g., leafy greens, carrots, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes). Each box is accompanied by nutrition education materials, including seasonal recipes, storage tips, and preparation guides designed to increase participant food agency and cooking confidence. This intervention is distinguished by its focus on objective nutritional biomarkers; rather than relying solely on self-repor

Primary outcome measures

• Change in Skin Carotenoid Score [Time frame: Baseline (Week 0) and Study Completion (Week 8)]

Secondary outcome measures (3)

• Change in Food Insecurity Status [Time frame: Baseline (Week 0) and Study Completion (Week 8)]
• Change in Self-Reported Daily Fruit and Vegetable Intake [Time frame: Baseline (Week 0) and Study Completion (Week 8)]
• Change in Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS) [Time frame: Baseline (Week 0) and Study Completion (Week 8)]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Must be a currently enrolled student at Rutgers Health.
• Must be 18 years of age or older.
• Must be able to pick up a produce box weekly at the designated campus distribution site for 8 consecutive weeks.
• Must provide informed consent to participate in the study, including all data collection time points (Weeks 0, 4, and 8).

Exclusion criteria

• Not a currently enrolled student at Rutgers Health.
• Less than 18 years of age.
• Not able to pick up food weekly
• Not willing to go through study assessments.

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

N/A

Model

Single group

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Health services research

Study locations

United States · 1 center

• Rutgers Health Food Pantry — Newark

Publications

• Topp CW, Ostergaard SD, Sondergaard S, Bech P. The WHO-5 Well-Being Index: a systematic review of the literature. Psychother Psychosom. 2015;84(3):167-76. doi: 10.1159/000376585. Epub 2015 Mar 28. PMID 25831962
• Switkowski KM, Kronsteiner-Gicevic S, Rifas-Shiman SL, Lightdale JR, Oken E. Evaluation of the Prime Diet Quality Score from Early Childhood Through Mid-Adolescence. J Nutr. 2024 Jun;154(6):1890-1906. doi: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.04.014. Epub 2024 Apr 16. PMID 38614240
• Hager ER, Quigg AM, Black MM, Coleman SM, Heeren T, Rose-Jacobs R, Cook JT, Ettinger de Cuba SA, Casey PH, Chilton M, Cutts DB, Meyers AF, Frank DA. Development and validity of a 2-item screen to identify families at risk for food insecurity. Pediatrics. 2010 Jul;126(1):e26-32. doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-3146. PMID 20595453
• Jilcott Pitts S, Moran NE, Laska MN, Wu Q, Harnack L, Moe S, Carr-Manthe P, Gates E, Chang J, Zaidi Y, Gelineau A, Berg L, Craft NE. Reflection Spectroscopy-Assessed Skin Carotenoids Are Sensitive to Change in Carotenoid Intake in a 6-Week Randomized Controlled Feeding Trial in a Racially/Ethnically Diverse Sample. J Nutr. 2023 Apr;153(4):1133-1142. doi: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.02.017. Epub 2023 Feb PMID 36804322
• Radtke MD, Poe M, Stookey J, Jilcott Pitts S, Moran NE, Landry MJ, Rubin LP, Stage VC, Scherr RE. Recommendations for the Use of the Veggie Meter(R) for Spectroscopy-Based Skin Carotenoid Measurements in the Research Setting. Curr Dev Nutr. 2021 Jul 29;5(8):nzab104. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzab104. eCollection 2021 Aug. PMID 34476333
• Di Noia J, Gellermann W. Use of the Spectroscopy-Based Veggie Meter(R) to Objectively Assess Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Low-Income Adults. Nutrients. 2021 Jun 30;13(7):2270. doi: 10.3390/nu13072270. PMID 34209048
• Slagel N, Newman T, Sanville L, Thompson JJ, Dallas J, Cotto-Rivera E, Lee JS. A Pilot Fruit and Vegetable Prescription (FVRx) Program Improves Local Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, Nutrition Knowledge, and Food Purchasing Practices. Health Promot Pract. 2023 Jan;24(1):62-69. doi: 10.1177/15248399211018169. Epub 2021 Jun 2. PMID 34078142
• Sackey JD, Pike K, Rothpletz-Puglia P, Brody R, Touger-Decker R. Food Insecurity Among Health Sciences Graduate Students at a Large Northeastern University. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2021 May;53(5):428-433. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2020.11.003. Epub 2021 Jan 19. PMID 33349595

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07511699 · Pro2026000603

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗