Improving Healthy Living Opportunities: Laurel HARVEST

change in carotenoids

时间窗: Baseline (year 1) and year 3

the VEGGIE METER™ will be used to measure dermal carotenoids using non-invasive RS Spectroscopy. Carotenoids are a biological marker of fruit and vegetable consumption. This non-invasive measurement of dermal carotenoids has been validated against the standard of serum carotenoids in adults. To obtain the measurement, a subject places their pointer finger into the machine for 20 seconds while their finger is squeezed. Three replicates will be taken per person at 20 seconds per replicate. The VEGGIE METER™ scores dermal carotenoids on a scale of 0-850 with higher scores indicating higher intake.

Change in Food and Physical Activity Questionnaire (FPAQ)

时间窗: Baseline (year 1) and year 3

30 item questionnaire to collect self-reported behaviors pertaining to five domains: diet, physical activity, food safety, food security and food resource management. The response options for each question are based on a Likert scale. Each question is scored with higher scores indicating greater frequency of the behavior in question.

change in food security

时间窗: Baseline (year 1) and year 3

Food Security Status will be measured at each time point by the 10-item United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Household Food Security Module. The questionnaire includes ten questions pertaining to food security that were designed to assess an individual's ability to obtain food directly to ensure having enough healthy food to eat. The questions include items such as not having enough money to purchase food, inability to afford nutritious food, and skipping meals due to lack of sufficient money. Answer choices include often, sometimes, never, and don't know. Items will be scored Food security status is assigned as follows: raw score zero-High food security among adults, raw score 1-2-Marginal food security, raw score 3-5-Low food security, raw score 6-10-Very low food security. For some reporting purposes, the food security status of the first two categories in combination will be described as food secure and the latter two as food insecure.

change in total Healthy Eating Index scores

时间窗: Baseline (year 1) and year 3

The Healthy Eating Index is a measurement that can capture changes in the thirteen dietary components outlined in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A maximum score-5 or 10 points- can be reached for each dietary component, depending on the component. Points are awarded when the amounts consumed meets the standard for a particular dietary component. Amounts that do not meet the standard get fewer points, with zero being the minimum score, and the maximum total Healthy Eating Index score is 100.