Pass the fruits and vegetables! A community-university-industry partnership promotes weight loss in African American women.
This article describes a community-university-industry partnership to alleviate food insecurity while promoting weight loss. Twenty-one overweight African American women are randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. Each receives supermarket gift cards and brief health education monthly for 3 months. The experimental group buys fresh produce only, whereas the control group buys any groceries. Data on weight, body mass index (BMI), waist-hip circumferences, and dietary intake are collected at baseline and months 1 to 3. Nine (43%) have complete data. Quantitative data reveal that the experimental group have lost significantly more weight (-6, +4 lbs), significantly reduced BMI (-1, +0.7), and eat significantly more raw, fresh produce (1.29, 0.15 cups). A focus group held at month 4 is rich with the meanings of participating, eating "well," and forming new habits. A nutrient-dense diet that is calorically balanced is the hallmark of health and well-being and may be related to weight loss in new ways. However, this diet is not always affordable by those most in need of it. The unexpected outcome of a statistical relationship among consuming raw, freshly prepared produce, weight loss, and BMI reduction within 3 months is not altogether explainable. There are obvious benefits, however, to these outcomes that support the continuing study of the phenomenon.
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA. sweerts@unf.edu
Sally E
SE
Weerts
Alma
A
Amoran
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D004035:Diet Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D050177:Overweight / Q000628:therapy*; D011203:Poverty; D014495:Universities / Q000458:organization & administration; D014675:Vegetables; D015431:Weight Loss; D055815:Young Adult