Southern California Center for Chronic Health Disparities in Latino Children and Families.

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ABSTRACT This application is responding to the NOSI supplement (NOT-OD-22-159) to support research on preventive interventions with populations that experience health disparities. Our project under parent grant P50 MD017344, is called “Food Prescriptions to Promote Affordable Diets that Meet RDAS among Multi- Generational Latino Households” and is developing meal plans accompanied by grocery delivery to improve diet quality and support weight loss. We are specifically planning meals and procuring groceries that are affordable, meet the recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) and adhere to sustainability guidelines to reduce the food-related carbon footprint. We are requesting the supplemental funds to add a FoodRx app as an intervention component that was not originally included in the parent study. Our recent household pilot had very promising results with the average Healthy Eating Index (HEI) increasing nearly 20 points (from 49.8 to 69.2) among adults, and adult participants achieving an average weight loss of 7 lbs. in a four-week period. Participants that did not do as well said there were several recipes and ingredients provided that they did not like and would have preferred substitutions. We currently lack the capacity to fully customize the menu plans and grocery lists. An app will enable participants to customize their weekly meal plans. We hypothesize that having the ability to customize the weekly menus through a FoodRx app will improve outcomes, as the lack of customization appeared to be a barrier for some families to improve their diet quality and achieve weight loss goals. (eg, some families did not like tofu or oatmeal, and would have preferred a substitute). It will not change the overall study design, which is to plan healthy meals and deliver the necessary groceries, and at the same time reduce the exposure to supermarkets and restaurants. We will be able to test the impact of the Food Rx app by comparing participants who use it to our control group that does not currently have access to the standard menus/grocery delivery or FoodRx app. Other benefits to creating a FoodRx app include the ability to expand enrollment to families with different ethnic/cultural backgrounds and food preferences, ability to scale the project, and ability for families to continue the program once the 6-month study ends. If this intervention ultimately proves effective and we can scale it up, it will create an alternative infrastructure that will constitute a new method for healthy diet promotion and transform the food marketplace. The more people that use Food Rx to obtain healthy groceries, the fewer that will be exposed to retail outlets that promote nutrient poor foods.