A Trial of Behavioral Economic Interventions Among Food Pantry Clients

Obesity, unhealthy dietary habits, and food insecurity are major public health concerns, especially affecting individuals living in poverty. Food pantries, which provide free food to those in need, are increasingly interested in promoting healthy choices, but few rigorous studies have tested healthy eating interventions in food pantry settings. The overall objective of this proposal is to conduct a randomized-controlled trial among 500 regular food pantry clients to compare the influence of a behavioral economic intervention to promote healthier food choices delivered via a web-based ordering platform to usual care (control group).

The primary objective of this proposal is to evaluate the influence of a web-based behavioral economic intervention compared to a control group on the following outcomes among food pantry clients: 1) Nutritional quality of food chosen at the pantry using food transaction data; 2) Fruit and vegetable intake measured by biomarkers and food frequency questionnaires; 3) Objectively measured biomarkers of health. The web-based behavioral economic intervention will include the following modifications to the online shopping platform: 1) Healthy food shopping cart defaults, 2) healthy placement choice architecture, 3) traffic light nutrition labels, 4) social norms messaging, and 5) healthy swaps. Food transaction data will be collected from the online system at baseline and then continuously for the remaining 3 months of the study (participants typically shop monthly). Surveys and objective biomarkers will be collected at baseline and three-months.