Mobile food markets have been proposed as a strategy for mitigating health disparities related to poor nutrition and diet/weight-related health conditions because they bring low-cost, healthy food directly to underserved populations. Full-service mobile markets may improve multiple aspects of the diet by providing foods to meet all dietary needs through a convenient one-stop shop. The full-service mobile market to be tested (Twin Cities Mobile Market) sells nutritious and staple foods from a bus that regularly visits low-income neighborhoods. Foods are sold at prices \~10% below those of grocery stores. SNAP/EBT is accepted, and a state-funded fruit/vegetable incentive program (Market Bucks) is available to shoppers. Working in partnership with our community team members, we will enroll 12 total sites and recruit 22 participants per site (N=264). We will collect baseline data and randomize sites to either receive the full-service mobile market intervention or serve as the waitlist control. We will then implement the full-service mobile market at intervention sites, follow participants for 6 months, and collect follow-up data. After follow-up data collection, waitlist control sites will receive the full-service mobile market intervention. Diet quality will be assessed through dietary recall interviews, food insecurity will be assessed by survey, and fruit and vegetable purchases will be measured by collecting one month of food purchase tracking forms at baseline and follow-up data collection. Analyses will determine whether the full-service mobile market changes diet quality, food security, and food purchasing outcomes.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
262
Full-service mobile market implementation: the market will visit intervention sites weekly. The market will carry items from all food groups including fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy/ dairy substitutes, proteins (e.g., frozen meat/fish, beans, eggs), and dry goods (e.g., cooking oil, spices). Prices on the market are affordable, approximately 10% lower than grocery stores.
No intervention
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Diet quality
Trained research staff certified in collecting dietary recalls using Nutrition Data System for Research software will collect three 24-hour dietary recall interviews (2 weekdays, 1 weekend day) from each participant at each measurement period. Dietary recall data will be used to calculate the Health Eating Index Total Score.
Time frame: At baseline and 6 month follow-up
Food insecurity
Food security in the past 6 months will be measured with the 18-item Household food security screening module of the USDA. From this measure, household food security status (food insecure or food secure) will be calculated per USDA guidelines for each time Food insecurity (yes, no) will be measured with the 18-item food security screening module of the USDA.
Time frame: At baseline and 6 month follow-up
Level of food insecurity
Food insecurity in the past 6 months will be measured with the 18-item food security screening module of the USDA. From this measure, household food security level (very low, low, marginal, and high food security) will be calculated per USDA guidelines for each time point, which will allow for calculation of level of food security prevalence at each time point.
Time frame: At baseline and 6 month follow-up
Average weekly servings of fruits and vegetables procured
Participants will use forms to record the fruits and vegetables they procured for their household and mail the forms to the researchers in prepaid addressed envelopes. Form data will be entered into Nutrition Data System for Research software to measure average weekly servings of fruits and vegetables procured.
Time frame: At baseline and 6 month follow-up
Fruit and vegetables (servings/day)
Trained research staff certified in collecting dietary recalls using Nutrition Data System for Research software will collect three 24-hour dietary recall interviews (2 weekdays, 1 weekend day) from each participant at each measurement period. Dietary recall data will be used to calculate the fruit and vegetables (servings/day) at baseline and follow-up.
Time frame: At baseline and 6 month follow-up
Daily intake of energy (kcal/day)
Trained research staff certified in collecting dietary recalls using Nutrition Data System for Research software will collect three 24-hour dietary recall interviews (2 weekdays, 1 weekend day) from each participant at each measurement period. Dietary recall data will be used to calculate the daily intake of energy (kcal/day).
Time frame: At baseline and 6 month follow-up
Percent calories from added sugar
Trained research staff certified in collecting dietary recalls using Nutrition Data System for Research software will collect three 24-hour dietary recall interviews (2 weekdays, 1 weekend day) from each participant at each measurement period. Dietary recall data will be used to calculate percent calories from added sugar.
Time frame: At baseline and 6 month follow-up
Sodium (mg/day)
Trained research staff certified in collecting dietary recalls using Nutrition Data System for Research software will collect three 24-hour dietary recall interviews (2 weekdays, 1 weekend day) from each participant at each measurement period. Dietary recall data will be used to calculate sodium (mg/day) intake.
Time frame: At baseline and 6 month follow-up
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