DASH diet adherence is improved by nutrition education offered through grocery stores
In a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 71st Annual Scientific Session, people who received personalized nutrition education in a series of sessions held at their local grocery store significantly improved their adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.
Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are the main foods in the diet. Items high in fat, sugar, and sodium aren’t as important as they used to be.
The Supermarket and Web-based Intervention Targeting Nutrition (SuperWIN) Trial is the first to deliver a nutritional intervention in each participant’s home grocery store, guided by their personal food purchasing data.
It is a collaboration between academic researchers and the grocery retailer Kroger. When comparing participants’ eating habits at the start of the study and three months later, in-store nutrition education sessions significantly increased DASH adherence scores by 4.7 points over an enhanced standard of care group, which increased DASH scores by a baseline amount of 5.8 points alone.
With online tools and training, nutrition education sessions at the store made a big difference. DASH scores rose by 3.8 points when the online tools and training were used.
Small dietary adjustments can have a big influence on your health, especially if you keep them up for a long time. “SuperWIN may be able to bridge the gap between existing dietary recommendations and low public compliance.
The study’s lead author, Dylan L. Steen, MD, is an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
“SuperWIN is a small start, but it demonstrates the power of research collaborations outside of pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies to develop and test new health-care techniques and reach patients in their communities.
This study, for example, clearly supports the efficacy of a nutritional intervention conducted in a grocery shop.
Kroger provided in-store dietitians, clinic space, and each participant’s grocery purchase data was collected by a newly issued Kroger loyalty card, while the university research team led the study design and analysis.
A primary care network was used to enroll a total of 247 individuals. After taking an initial assessment and gathering some baseline data, each person was randomly assigned to one of three study groups.
In a single in-store consultation with a nutritionist, the control group received enhanced medical nutrition therapy but received no additional nutrition education.
Six additional one-on-one in-store nutrition education sessions focusing on following the DASH dietary pattern were given to one intervention group.
In addition, the other intervention group received seven one-on-one in-store nutrition education sessions, as well as training on online shopping tools, free home grocery delivery, healthier product identification, and meal planning.
Before each session in both intervention groups, the dietitian and the person who was going to be there looked at updated, customized purchase data.
“These treatments truly allowed us to personalize the DASH diet for each participant,” added Steen. “Dietitians educated participants on how to eat healthier foods right in the aisles of their local supermarket.
The secret is that they are not only registered dietitians, but they also have extensive knowledge of the store’s product inventory as well as the brands and goods that customers enjoy.
They were able to use the data to better incorporate healthy adjustments into each participant’s lifestyle and budget after being given nutritional and buying information.
Individuals’ preferences, cooking skills, and food allergies were also taken into account by dietitians when they came up with specific recommendations.
Steen believes that rigorous validation of retail-based interventions will be crucial in driving innovation and adoption in the future.
New services can also be created to blend more seamlessly with primary care physician treatment. A group of researchers is going to look at the data a little more.
They want to find out more about how the people who took part in the study felt about food literacy, how much they bought, and other things.
