Nourishing Tomorrow: Role of Medically Tailored Groceries in Addressing Food Insecurity During Pregnancy

Summary

Medically tailored groceries (MTG), involving grocery items to be prepared at home, selected by a nutritional professional based on a treatment plan, is a growing approach adopted by healthcare systems to address food insecurity in their patient populations, a leading contribution to health disparities such as poor birth outcomes within pregnant populations. However, transportation and other social needs can often hinder patient uptake of clinic-based approaches. Findings from this study will help to better understand how home delivery of MTGs, with and without supplemental education and support to improve food literacy, behavioral and health outcomes.

Conditions

• Pregnancy Related
• Prematurity
• Birth Outcome, Adverse

Interventions

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Clinic-Based Medically Tailored Groceries (CB-MTG)

Patients have the opportunity to pick up medically tailored groceries every other week at the Food Is Medicine Clinic or Market associated with their provider.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Home Delivered Medically Tailored Groceries (HD-MTG)

Patient receive home delivered medically tailored groceries every two weeks during pregnancy and up to 3 months post-delivery.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Home Delivered Medically Tailored Groceries plus Education (HD-MTG_PLUS)

Patients receive home delivered medically tailored groceries every two weeks during pregnancy and up to 3 months post-delivery, plus also receives additional nutrition and culinary education and support throughout the trial.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)

  collaborator NIH

• University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center

  collaborator OTHER

• MetroHealth Medical Center

  collaborator OTHER

• Greater Cleveland Food Bank

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Case Western Reserve University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Elaine A Borawski, PhD · Case Western Reserve University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

55 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-11-12

Primary Completion

2028-11-01

Completion

2029-05-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations