Produce prescription programs bring benefits, study says

A new study finds that fruit and vegetable prescription programs are beneficial to the health of participants in several important ways.

The study, published in an online health journal, found that produce prescription programs were associated with significant improvements in fruit and vegetable intake, food security, and health status for adults and children, as well as clinically relevant improvements in glycated hemoglobin, blood pressure and body mass index for adults with poor cardiometabolic health.

Called “Impact of Produce Prescriptions on Diet, Food Security, and Cardiometabolic Health Outcomes: A Multisite Evaluation of 9 Produce Prescription Programs in the United States,” the research paper used individual-level data from 22 produce prescription locations in 12 U.S. states from 2014 to 2020.

The study included 3,881 individuals (2,064 adults aged 18 years or older and 1,817 children aged 2-17) with, or at risk for, poor cardiometabolic health recruited from clinics serving low-income neighborhoods, according to the research abstract.

Programs studied the provided financial incentives to purchase fruits and vegetables at grocery stores or farmers markets (median of $63 a month; duration of four to 10 months), the research abstract said.

Surveys assessed fruit and vegetable intake, food security and self-reported health; glycated hemoglobin, blood pressure, BMI and BMI z-score were measured at clinics. Adjusted, multilevel mixed models accounted for clustering by program.

Researchers found that produce prescription programs, with a median participation of six months, increased fruit and vegetable intake by 0.85 cups per day for adults and 0.26 cups per day for children.

The odds of being food insecure dropped by one-third for participants, the study found.