Data from: NOURISH HEARTS: Nutrition Outreach and Understanding: Research In Serving Hearts Through Healthy Eating And Tailored Support

Black communities in the U.S. are among the most disenfranchised in terms
of equal access to healthy food and nutrition education. As a result,
Black Americans are more likely to consume low-quality foods with poor
nutritional value that are associated with cardiometabolic disease.
Medically tailored meals (MTM) are a promising food-is-medicine
intervention to address nutrition inequities, but they lack the ability to
provide nutrition education and behavior change skills. Shared medical
appointments (SMA) can offer the education and training needed to achieve
sustainable healthy eating behaviors. This study examined the feasibility,
acceptability, and preliminary biopsychosocial effects of MTM and MTM+SMA
in a Black community with cardiometabolic disease. We hypothesized that 1)
the study is feasible (≥ 40 % recruitment rate, ≥ 70 % retention rate in
each arm), 2) the intervention is feasible (≥75 % SMA attendance, ≥ 60 %
meals consumed), and 3) the intervention is acceptable (net promoter score
(NPS) >9 in the MTM and MTM+SMA arms). We conducted a
three-arm pilot randomized controlled trial. Study arms included: (1) MTM
(2 meals daily for 10 weeks), (2) MTM+SMA (same MTMs plus 10 weekly
1–2-hour group medical visits), and (3) MTM-Later (waitlist control- same
MTMs provided after the intervention period). Participants were adults (≥
18 years old) who self-identify as Black/African American and have
cardiometabolic disease. A total of 67 participants were
randomized to the three study arms; MTM (n = 24), MTM+SMA (n = 21) and
MTM-Later (n = 22).