Good Bowls: Empowering Communities to Achieve Good Food Access and Health Equity

好碗：赋权社区实现良好的食品获取和健康公平

• 批准号: 10227325
• 负责人: ALICE S AMMERMAN
• 金额: $ 16.23万
• 依托单位: EQUITI FOODS, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-08-20 至 2021-09-17
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10227325
• 关键词: Address; Administrative Supplement; Affect; Behavior; Businesses; COVID-19; Chronic Disease; Color; Communities; Contracts; County; Data; Diabetes Mellitus; Diet; Dietary intake; Distress; Economics; Employee; Environment; Equipment; Farming environment; Food; Food Access; Food Industry; Freezing; Goals; Health; Health Food; Heart Diseases; Immune system; Knowledge; Licensing; Life; Low Income Population; Low income; Mediterranean Diet; Minority; Modeling; Nutrient; Nutritional; Nutritional status; Obesity; Occupations; Oranges; Outcome; Persons; Phase; Play; Population; Populations at Risk; Poverty; Prevention; Price; Process; Production; Recipe; Research; Restaurants; Risk; Rural; Rural Community; S-nitro-N-acetylpenicillamine; Sales; Site; Social Impacts; System; Taste Perception; Taste preferences; Testing; Time; Unemployment; Update; Vendor; Virus Diseases; Work; base; coronavirus disease; design; disorder risk; empowered; ethnic minority population; farmer; flexibility; food insecurity; food security; good diet; health disparity; health equity; high risk population; immune system function; improved; local economy; nutrition; pandemic disease; prevent; professor; response; rural residence; systematic review; wasting

Abstract Emerging data indicate that those with pre-existing health conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, are at significantly increased risk of contracting COVID-19, as are low income and persons of color. Research also suggests that food insecurity (lack of access to affordable, nutritionally valuable food) and poor dietary intake are likely contributors to health disparities in these populations. Unemployment, poverty, ethnic minority status, and rural residence are also strong predictors of poor health. The need to provide accessible and affordable healthy food options to support improved immune system function to higher-risk populations has therefore become increasingly urgent as the pandemic unfolds. Nutritional status is believed to play a key role in the prevention, treatment, and management of COVID-19, with a balanced diet and certain nutrients serving to strengthen the immune system. Yet, even as the need for nutritious food options has become more urgent, the pandemic has led to enormous food industry job loss, closing of food-related businesses, loss of restaurant and institutional markets for small to mid-sized farmers, and excess produce being wasted or donated to food banks /pantries where the capacity to store and distribute this volume of perishable food is limited. These effects have dramatically amplified food insecurity,1 particularly in minority and low income populations. Equiti Foods LLC is advancing Good Bowls, a production and distribution platform to increase availability of healthy, affordable, locally-produced, good-tasting frozen meals to low income and minority populations in small towns and rural communities, while also providing economic opportunities for small businesses in rural communities. The meals are based on the Mediterranean diet adapted for taste preferences and seasonal availability of food in the southeastern US (“Med-South Diet”). Equiti Foods has tested the Med-South diet in multiple studies and found beneficial health impacts in low income populations as well as broad acceptability regarding taste. This Phase I administrative supplement will focus on tailoring the platform for application in current COVID-19 impacted regional economies and business environments. The goal is to assist in minimizing the health, financial and social impacts of the pandemic in health disparity populations. Specific aims include: 1) work with three identified restaurants/caterers in rural economically distressed communities (including one Black- owned and one Latinx-owned) to test the Good Bowls model; 2) assess early stage nutrition impact on customers adversely affected by COVID-19 in terms of food security, diet quality and healthy food knowledge/behaviors; 3) incorporate COVID-19-related health messaging into the Good Bowls packaging tailored to local communities. If successful, this project will establish feasibility of a Good Bowls model that will: 1) empower small scale food producers, invigorating local economies; 2) prevent food waste resulting from COVID-disrupted food distribution chains; 3) provide at-risk populations with nutritious food to assist in prevention and management of COVID-19.

抽象的 新兴数据表明患有肥胖，糖尿病和心脏等健康状况的患者 疾病，有色人种和有色人种的疾病风险显着增加了Covid-19的风险。 研究还表明，粮食不安全（缺乏负担得起的营养价值的食物）和贫困 饮食摄入可能是这些人群中健康差异的原因。失业，贫穷，种族 少数群体的地位和粗糙的居住也是健康状况不佳的有力预测指标。需要提供可访问的需求 以及负担得起的健康食品选择，以支持改善高风险人群的免疫系统功能 因此，随着大流行的发展，变得越来越紧迫。据信营养状况起着关键作用 在Covid-19的预防，治疗和管理中，饮食均衡和某些营养素供应 加强免疫系统。但是，即使需要营养食品选择变得更加紧迫， 大流行导致了巨大的食品行业失业，与食品有关的企业关闭，丢失餐厅 和中小型农民的机构市场，以及浪费或捐赠给食物的过量生产 储存和分配此易腐烂食品的能力的银行 /餐厅有限。这些影响 粮食不安全急剧放大，尤其是少数民族和低收入人群。 Equiti Foods LLC正在推进好碗，这是一个生产和分销平台，可提高可用性 健康，负担得起的，本地生产的，良好的冷冻餐点至低收入和少数人口 城镇和粗糙的社区，同时还为农村的小型企业提供经济机会 社区。这些饭菜是基于适合口味偏好和季节的地中海饮食 美国东南部的食物（“ Med-South Diet”）。 Equiti食品已经测试了Med-South饮食 多次研究并发现低收入人群的有益健康影响以及广泛的可接受性 考虑品味。 I阶段I管理补充剂将着重于调整平台以进行应用 当前的Covid-19影响了区域经济和商业环境。目标是协助最小化 大流行在健康差异人群中的健康，财务和社会影响。具体目的包括：1） 与大约经济困难的社区中的三个确定的餐馆/餐饮服务员一起工作（包括一个黑人 拥有和一个拉丁人拥有）测试好碗模型； 2）评估早期营养对客户的影响 在粮食安全，饮食质量和健康食品知识/行为方面受到Covid-19的不利影响； 3） 将COVID相关的健康消息纳入了针对当地社区量身定制的好碗包装。 如果成功，该项目将建立一个好碗模型的可行性：1）授权小型食品 生产者，使当地经济充满活力； 2）防止因腐烂的食物分配而产生的食物浪费 链3）为高危人群提供营养食品，以帮助预防和管理Covid-19。