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.
Weerts
Sally E
SE
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA. sweerts@unf.edu
Amoran
Alma
A
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