Free deliveries of fresh produce improved blood sugar in adults with diabetes
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Key takeaways:
- Free weekly produce deliveries and nutrition counseling lowered blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes.
- The majority of participants were already food insecure at baseline.
Free weekly deliveries of fresh fruits and vegetables alongside nutritional counseling significantly reduced blood sugar among adults with type 2 diabetes, a speaker reported.
The results of a pre-randomized controlled trial that provided 6 months of free weekly produce deliveries and nutrition counseling with registered dietitians or nutritionists via telephone to patients in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health system were presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.
“Many low-income Americans who are insured through Medicaid and have a diet-related illness, such as diabetes, are medically and socially very vulnerable. Fifty-eight percent of our study participants, who were all insured through Medicaid, identified as being food insecure,” Claudia Nau, PhD, research scientist in the department of research and evaluation at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, told Healio. “Food and nutrition insecurity was common among Medicaid patients with uncontrolled diabetes in our study. Our study showed that free, healthy food deliveries can improve food and nutrition security and blood sugar control for these medically and socially vulnerable patients.”
For this trial, 450 patients in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health system (mean age, 59 years; 85% Hispanic; 65% women) were randomly assigned to high- or low-dose deliveries of fresh fruits and vegetables and nutrition counseling or a control arm that received none. Eligible participants were adults enrolled through Medicaid (MediCal) who had type 2 diabetes and at least two hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values more than 7.5% in the past 12 months.
Produce amounts were scaled based on household size and cost ranged from $90 to $270 per household for the high-dose intervention and $90 to $180 per household for the low-dose intervention.
The primary endpoint was change in HbA1c at 6 months.
At enrollment, HbA1c was 9.4% and 58.3% of participants were food insecure; baseline characteristics were similar between the intervention and control groups.
Participants that received fresh produce deliveries experienced significant reductions in HbA1c at 6 months compared with the control arm (0.37%; 95% CI, 0.71 to 0.04; P = .028).
The reduction in HbA1c was not significantly different between high- and low-dose intervention arms, according to the presentation.
“Our results suggest that the benefits may have waned after the deliveries ended and that such programs, much like medication treatments, may need to be sustained to help to lower patients’ HbA1c,” Nau told Healio. “Much of our health happens outside the doctor’s office. Addressing the real-life barriers that keep people from managing their chronic diseases and living healthier lives can help to reduce important inequities in health."
Reference:
- Free Weekly Produce Delivery Improved Blood Sugar, Food Security in Low-Income Adults. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/free-weekly-produce-delivery-improved-blood-sugar-food-security-in-low-income-adults. Published Nov. 6, 2023. Accessed Nov. 11, 2023.
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Nau C, et al. Abstract 578. Presented at: American Heart Association Scientific Sessions; Nov. 11-13, 2023; Philadelphia.
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