USDA Provides Over $480K to Provide locally sourced Produce for Study Participants with Certain Health Risks.
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Seeking to combat diet-related illness in food-insecure communities across Maryland, Professor and Extension Specialist Hee-Jung Song is creating a produce-prescription program, backed by almost half a million dollars in funding from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The program will provide locally sourced fruit and vegetables to Marylanders at-risk of heart disease and associated illnesses and track both their consumption patterns and any health improvement changes using electronic health records.
In the United States, heart disease remains the number one cause of death, with complications from hypertension and diabetes exacerbating the problem. Song points to diet as the primary contributing factor.
“These health issues are linked to what type of food we choose, with 80-90% of folks that don’t meet recommended dietary guidelines for fruit and vegetable consumption,” Song explained. “These approaches offer prevention or management through changes in lifestyle behavior and diet. At every stage of life, nutrition is important.”
This is a big first for Maryland. Never before has the state received funding for a produce prescription program.
“This is our chance to see how this works, and if it will be accepted by the population,” Song said. “Throughout the 3-year project, I want to ensure the feasibility of this type of model to see if it can be replicated in other parts of Maryland.”
Partner health care providers like MobileMed in Rockville, MD, will screen potential participants for risk of developing type II diabetes, hypertension, and/or obesity, and refer candidates for a total of 140 study participants.
Once these individuals are brought on board, they will pass through six weeks of nutrition education delivered by UMD Extension’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education (EFNEP) program, and will be prescribed a locally sourced, culturally tailored produce basket (approximately 12 lbs) for a period of 24 weeks. UMD dietetics students will facilitate check-ins with participants to chart their progress.
To build this type of system, community connections are crucial. To help link the at-risk participants with local farmers and volunteers who can facilitate access to healthy food, Song is collaborating with Jennifer Freeman, Executive Director and Founder of Community FarmShare, an organization dedicated to healthy food access for Montgomery County residents.
Community FarmShare’s role is to make the produce access process more streamlined by easing participant access to farmers’ markets and also pre-packaging the baskets of produce with locally sourced fruits and vegetables. Freeman believes strongly in the local food connection because of the higher nutrient density compared with a product you’d buy from a large-scale retailer.
“We're working with about 20 local farms, and almost all of them use organic, healthy soils practices, which positively impacts nutrient density and is aligned with positive climate and environmental best practices,” Freeman said. “One of the most consistent pieces of feedback from clients is the high quality of produce. Through our work we’re consciously creating a market for Montgomery County Farmers. They really do care about addressing food insecurity through the good food they grow.”
Through the participant data they receive from Song and health care providers, they are able to get a sense of the client’s individual needs, enabling them to pack items in their bag accordingly to optimize their nutrition.
“We contract purchase with local farmers so they grow the produce that is most needed and desired by the community to best meet dietary needs and cultural preferences,” Freeman said, adding that “We always have a seasonal availability list from the farmers to ensure there is a great variety of items available to best serve patients in the produce prescription program.”
For now, Song’s confidence is high. Following the three-year pilot period, she hopes to set her sights on replicating this model on a state or national scale.
