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Study: Food prescription programs for food-insecure, older adults work best when fresh food is delivered to their door
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1147973
INTRO: People who eat fresh food are healthier than those who don’t. That simple fact is the basis of food prescription programs that make fruits, vegetables and other foods free for people who are food insecure.
But just giving people vouchers to redeem for fresh produce isn’t enough. Research shows that only 9% to 18% of those who receive such vouchers actually use them. A new study by University at Buffalo researchers has found that when fresh produce is delivered directly to participants’ homes, those numbers jump to nearly 90%. The findings were published last month in Frontiers in Public Health.
“The problem historically with food prescription programs is that people get the vouchers but don’t redeem them,” says Lucia A. Leone, PhD, corresponding author and associate professor of community health and health behavior in the School of Public Health and Health Professions at UB. “Our goal was to test different versions of home delivery to ideally boost redemption and compare to what has been the standard approach, which was to give people vouchers to redeem at a mobile market.” (MORE - no ads)
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1147973
INTRO: People who eat fresh food are healthier than those who don’t. That simple fact is the basis of food prescription programs that make fruits, vegetables and other foods free for people who are food insecure.
But just giving people vouchers to redeem for fresh produce isn’t enough. Research shows that only 9% to 18% of those who receive such vouchers actually use them. A new study by University at Buffalo researchers has found that when fresh produce is delivered directly to participants’ homes, those numbers jump to nearly 90%. The findings were published last month in Frontiers in Public Health.
“The problem historically with food prescription programs is that people get the vouchers but don’t redeem them,” says Lucia A. Leone, PhD, corresponding author and associate professor of community health and health behavior in the School of Public Health and Health Professions at UB. “Our goal was to test different versions of home delivery to ideally boost redemption and compare to what has been the standard approach, which was to give people vouchers to redeem at a mobile market.” (MORE - no ads)
