Humana Foundation awards $249,963 to Produce Prescription Program

Published: December 4, 2023

The Humana Foundation awarded $249,963 to a current study, Produce Prescription to Improve Food Insecurity and Health Outcomes among At-risk Children and Their Families, led by the Center for Health Equity and UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Shreela Sharma, PhD, Ru-Che (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH, and Sandra McKay, MD.

This Comparative Effectiveness Randomized Controlled Trial will contrast how two produce prescription strategies improve obesity-related health outcomes and dietary behaviors among 150 low-income children (ages 5-12) enrolled in Medicaid and experiencing obesity at UT Physicians over a 32-week period.

After looking at electronic health record data, clinic staff reach out to potentially eligible families for enrollment. Families are then assigned to three intervention groups. The first group receives home-delivered fruits and vegetables from DoorDash every two weeks. The second group is given a voucher where $25 will be uploaded for patients to purchase at six participating retailers across the greater Houston area on a two-week basis. The final control group continues to receive standard clinical care during the 32 weeks without the produce prescription interventions. After the duration of the study, they will be able to receive home-delivered produce.

Both intervention strategies will incorporate nutrition education materials from Brighter Bites (BB), a national non-profit that uses evidence-based practices and has been shown to successfully improve dietary behaviors, reduce food insecurity, and improve home food environments among participating children and their families.  

The Humana Foundation funds have allowed investigators to expand the reach to 150 patients. This study will provide essential insights into the feasibility of produce prescription programs for at-risk families. It also lays a foundation for larger-scale studies in the future- focusing on the sustainability and scalability of interventions for integration into standard practice.