Brighter Bites and Legacy Community Health Produce Rx.
Project Overview
Brighter Bites is an evidence-based coordinated school health intervention proven to improve intake of fruits and vegetables among under-resourced children and their families. This project aims to improve chronic disease risk factors in children, families, and communities through a coordinated policies, systems, and environments approach that includes culturally appropriate produce prescription programs, community promotion of nutrition guideline adoption, enhanced physical activity infrastructure and environments, and increased availability of family healthy weight programs through schools and clinics.
Project Details
This project will provide produce prescriptions (Produce Rx) and nutrition education to low-income Medicaid-eligible teenagers who are overweight and obese and their families at four Legacy Community Health School-based clinics in Galena Park area in Texas. Families will be prescribed produce bags delivered to their homes. Legacy Community Health will collaborate with Brighter Bites to provide fresh produce bags for the families. We will evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of the program in improving families’ health. This unique Produce Rx Program is specifically designed to bring together stakeholders from distinct parts of the food and healthcare system (Brighter Bites and Legacy Community Health) to foster an understanding of how to improve the nutrition and health status of participating households by prescribing fresh fruits and vegetables.
Project Protocol:
The primary objectives of this project are to demonstrate and clinically evaluate the impact of this projects on 1) the improvement of health outcomes among pediatric patients through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables; 2) the reduction of individual and household food insecurity; and 3) the reduction in healthcare use and associated costs.
- Project Funders: The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP)
Project Contact: Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Project Team
Co-Principal Investigator
Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Principal Investigator
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Study Partners
Brighter Bites: https://www.brighterbites.org/
Legacy Community Health: https://www.legacycommunityhealth.org/programs/school-based-health-care/