Project 1: Keiki Produce Prescription (KPRx) Program: Improving Diet Assessment and Quantifying Health Impacts

项目总结

PROJECT SUMMARY Children living in food-insecure homes, defined as at some time during the last year their household not having enough food, money, or resources to feed the family experience low intake of fresh fruits and vegetables (FV), and a trajectory for increased risk of obesity and chronic diseases in adulthood. In Hawai‘i, a higher proportion of Native Hawaiian (NH) and other Pacific Islander (OPI) children live in food-insecure households when compared with the state average (30% and 50%, respectively vs. 18%) and NHOPI adults suffer disproportionately from chronic disease. Produce prescription programs, provide vouchers to individuals to purchase fresh FV, are promising strategies to improve diet quality and reduce chronic disease risk among food insecure populations. The long-term objective of this research is to reduce nutrition-related health disparities via clinical-community based programming. The Keiki (child) Produce Prescription (KPRx) program was developed and implemented by enlisting University and community researchers and health care providers at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC). The current study builds on the community-academic partnership to achieve the following specific aims 1) develop and validate a quantitative, food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for NHOPI children (HCFFQ) and 2) measure effectiveness of the KPRx on FV intake, gut microbiome composition, and health related biomarkers in 100 parent-child dyads in the context of household food insecurity from a predominantly NHOPI community in Hawaiʻi. An NHOPI-rich population-specific dietary database from the Children’s Healthy Living Program study will be utilized to develop a valid, reliable Hawaii Child Food Frequency Questionnaire (HCFFQ) (Aim 1). A community based participatory research approach to carry out a randomized controlled trial that measures the effect of the KPRx on child diet and microbiome, and parent/caregiver diet and health-related biomarkers on 100 parent-child dyads in the context of household food insecurity will be conducted (Aim 2). The community-informed research study will provide data to inform local and state healthcare and nutrition assistance programming policies aimed at reducing food insecurity and health disparities among NHOPI and minority populations.