A Healthy Food Prescription Incentive Program for Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Who Are Experiencing Food Insecurity

It is vital for individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) to adhere to a healthy dietary pattern to maintain optimal blood glucose levels and overall health. However, the increasing costs of healthy foods is a barrier to maintaining healthful dietary patterns, particularly for individuals with T2DM who are experiencing food insecurity (i.e., inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints). Lower diet quality may result in difficulties maintaining optimal blood glucose levels, leading to higher rates of diabetes complications, and increased acute care usage and costs.

Although the adverse impact of food insecurity on maintaining optimal blood glucose levels is well documented, effective strategies to address food insecurity among individuals with T2DM are lacking. One approach to address this problem is to provide incentives for individuals to purchase healthy foods through healthy food prescription programs. These programs may help to reduce food insecurity and improve diet quality, thereby improving blood glucose levels and reducing diabetes complications over time.

Using a type 2 hybrid effectiveness-implementation design, we will conduct three concurrent studies (i.e. randomized controlled trial, implementation study, modelling study) to examine the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance (RE-AIM) of a healthy food prescription incentive program among adults who are experiencing food insecurity and persistent hyperglycemia. The randomized controlled trial will examine the effectiveness of a healthy food prescription incentive program compared to a healthy food prescription alone in improving blood glucose levels, quantified via hemoglobin A1C, among adults who are experiencing food insecurity and persistent hyperglycemia. Secondary outcomes include blood glucose levels quantified via fructosamine, the proportion of patients with elevated hemoglobin A1C (i.e. ≥ 8.5%), diet quality and skin carotenoid levels, intermediate clinical outcomes (blood lipids, blood pressure, BMI, waist circumference, need for anti-hyperglycemic medication/insulin) and patient-reported outcomes (psychosocial well-being, self-rated health, diabetes self-efficacy, diabetes self-management, diabetes distress, diabetes competing demands, perceived financial barriers to chronic disease care, hypoglycemic episodes, household food insecurity).

Methods: 594 adults who are experiencing food insecurity and persistent hyperglycemia (i.e., hemoglobin A1C 6.5-12%) from urban and rural primary care clinics will be randomized to a 12 month healthy food prescription incentive (n=297) or a healthy food prescription comparison group (n=297).

The healthy food prescription incentive program consists of the following two core elements: 1) The one-time healthy food prescription pamphlet is a low literacy resource comprised of a pre-printed healthy food prescription that outlines an evidence-based healthy dietary pattern; 2) The healthy food incentive provides a weekly incentive of $10.50/household member to purchase healthy foods in participating supermarkets for 12 months. The intervention will be delivered over 12 months to allow sufficient time for dietary changes to be reflected in several A1c cycles.