UTH

Center for Health Equity

Project Details

Brighter Bites in Acres Homes.

Project Overview

This study evaluates the impact of a Brighter Bites coordinated school health intervention on obesity measures, metabolic parameters, dietary intake, and food security status in low-income children and their parents residing in Acres Homes, a persistent poverty area of Houston, Texas. 

Project Details  

Brighter Bites is a 501c3 non-profit organization that implements an evidence- based coordinated health program that combines access to fresh produce and nutrition education for under-resourced children and their families. Through 16 biweekly distributions per school year, Brighter Bites partners with trusted avenues, such as schools and clinics, to provide an opportunity to increase access to nutrition dense foods and address food insecurity among participating families. Each school year, Brighter Bites participants receive up to 16 bi-weekly distributions of close to 50 servings of primarily donated fresh produce, healthy recipe tastings, and nutrition education. The program has proven effective to improve dietary intake among preschool and elementary school teachers, under-resourced children, and their families. Brighter Bites is currently being disseminated across 12 cities across the U.S. 

 Brighter Bites study in Acres Homes 

The Brighter Bites in Acres Homes study is a school-based cluster-randomized controlled trial to determine the impact of Brighter Bites school-based nutrition intervention on child health and parent and child dietary intake and food security status among residents of the Acres Homes community. This study is funded by National Cancer Institute (NCI), and is part of the Acres Homes Cancer Prevention Collaboration (Acres Homes CPC), one of five centers for cancer control research created as part of the Persistent Poverty Initiative of the NCI — the first major program to address the structural and institutional factors of persistent poverty in the context of cancer. 

Primary Aim:

To examine the effects of the BB intervention compared to wait-list control at post intervention on changes in primary child outcomes (HbA1c, and vegetable intake) 

Secondary Aims:

To examine the effects of the Brighter Bites intervention compared to wait-list control at 9-month post intervention on changes in secondary outcomes (household food security status, parent and child dietary behaviors, and home access/availability of fruits and vegetables). 

To examine the mediational influence of changes in food security status, parent outcomes, and home environment measures on changes in child outcomes at 9-month post-intervention. 

Using within-subject analyses, examine and compare the long-term and dose-response effects of the BB intervention strategies on diet, adiposity, and metabolic outcomes at 21-month follow-up in the children. 

Explore the moderating effects of social and environmental variables on program effectiveness.

Project Contact: Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH

 

Project Team

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Co-Principal Investigator

Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD

Director, Center for Health Equity

Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology

[email protected]

 

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Co-Principal Investigator

Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH

Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences

Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH

 

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Co-Principal Investigator

William Brett Perkison, MD

Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences

[email protected]

 

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Co-Investigator

Christine Markham, PhD

Professor and Chair, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences

[email protected]

 

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Co-Investigator

Cici Bauer, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences

[email protected]

 

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Co-Investigator

Ryan Ramphul, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology

[email protected]

 

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Co-Investigator

Maria Fernandez, PhD

Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences

[email protected]

 

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Co-Investigator

Andrew Springer, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences

[email protected]

 

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Co-Investigator

Sanjay Shete, PhD

Professor, Department of Biostatistics

MD Anderson Cancer Center

[email protected]

 

Collaborators & Institutions

 MD Anderson Cancer Center Acres Homes Cancer Prevention Collaboration

https://www.mdanderson.org/research/research-areas/prevention-personalized-risk-assessment/acres-homes-cancer-prevention-collaboration.html

Brighter Bites 

https://brighterbites.org/research/ 

 

 

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