NCT07221045

A Food As Medicine Approach to Address Food Insecurity in Rural North Carolina

PhytoRx Families: A Pilot Test Study to Address Food Security and Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Rural North Carolina

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (estimated)
• Sponsor: North Carolina State University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 8 Years – 64 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Increasing fruit and vegetable (FV) intake, and reducing saturated fat, salt, and added sugar are central lifestyle recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to prevent chronic disease. Yet, while diet is modifiable, numerous barriers exist for lower-resourced families to engage in healthy dietary behaviors. In particular, rural families face structural and systemic disparities, such as inadequate access to affordable healthy food. Thus, this project. Thus, this study, PhytoRx Families, an innovative produce prescription (Prx) program, addresses health disparities in rural North Carolina (NC). This project will pilot test and explore the impact of PhytoRx Families (PhtyoRxF) on nutrition-related, health-related, and healthcare utilization outcomes.

Detailed description

Increasing fruit and vegetable (FV) intake, and reducing saturated fat, salt, and added sugar are central lifestyle recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to prevent chronic disease. Yet, while diet is modifiable, numerous barriers exist for lower-resourced families to engage in healthy dietary behaviors. In particular, rural families face structural and systemic inequities, such as inadequate access to affordable healthy food. Thus, this project, PhytoRx Families, an innovative produce prescription (Prx) program, will address health disparities in rural North Carolina (NC). This project will pilot test and explore the impact of PhytoRx Families (PhtyoRxF) on nutrition-related outcomes. This study will define impact on FV intake using the ASA24 dietary recall (primary outcome) among n=30 adults and school-aged children (adult-child dyads; children 8-14 year olds, 2nd-9th grade). The study will also explore the impact of PhytoRxF on cardiovascular health-related outcomes (blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C), height, weight (BMI calculated)). Finally the study will examine the change in healthcare utilization among PhytoRxF participants.

Conditions

• Diet, Healthy
• Health Behavior
• Blood Pressure
• Diabetes Mellitus Risk
• Utilization, Health Care

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	PhytoRx Families: A Pilot Test to Address Food Security in Rural North Carolina	This project will pilot test and explore the impact of PhytoRx Families (PhtyoRxF) on nutrition-related, health-related, and healthcare utilization outcomes among n=30 adults and school-aged children (adult-child dyads; children 8-14 year olds, 2nd-9th grade).

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-04-18
• Primary completion: 2026-05-31
• Completion: 2026-05-31
• First posted: 2025-10-27
• Last updated: 2025-10-27

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States