Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
ResearchOriginal Research: BriefApplying the Healthy Eating Index-2015 in a Sample of Choice-Based Minnesota Food Pantries to Test Associations Between Food Pantry Inventory, Client Food Selection, and Client Diet
Section snippets
Study Design and Recruitment
This study used baseline data from an intervention evaluation (SuperShelf, NCT03421106) in 16 food pantries in Minnesota.22 Participating pantries were selected in two waves among 62 unique pantries that applied. An open call to food pantries in Minnesota was advertised through the SuperShelf Leadership Team, a network that included food banks across the state and the state’s partner administrator of The Emergency Food Assistance Program during a 6-week period in early fall 2017 and another in
Results
Client and pantry characteristics are presented in Table 1. The analytic sample of 316 participants was approximately two-thirds women (63.9%) with 43.3% aged 18 to 44 years. Participants mostly identified as non-Hispanic White (57.3%) with 15.8% identifying as non-Hispanic Black, 6.3% identifying as Native American/Alaskan Native, 10.4% identifying as Hispanic/Latinx, and 10.1% identifying as other, more than one race, or missing race/ethnicity. About half (50.5%) had greater than a
Discussion
In this study of 16 choice-based Minnesota food pantries, the Total HEI-2015 inventory score averaged 65.1, client food selection score averaged 60.8, and dietary recall score averaged 50.9. Descriptively, HEI-2015 scores decreased from the level of inventory to client carts to client diet for the majority of subcomponents, although statistical significance was not tested. Contrary to the first hypotheses, inventory HEI-2015 scores were not associated with client cart scores, with the exception
Conclusions
In this study of 16 choice-based Minnesota food pantries, the diet quality of food pantry inventory was mostly not associated with the diet quality of the food selected by clients. The HEI- 2015 score of food selected by clients was positively and statistically significantly associated with client diet HEI-2015 Total score and with a number of subcomponents. Results suggest that food pantries are an important source of healthy food for clients, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and
C. E. Caspi is director of food security initiatives, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, University of Connecticut, Hartford; an associate professor, Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs; and an assistant/associate professor, Program in Health Disparities Research, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
References (55)
- et al.
Dietary quality and usual intake of underconsumed nutrients and related food groups differ by food security status for rural, midwestern food pantry clients
J Acad Nutr Diet
(2020) A review of the food security, diet and health outcomes of food pantry clients and the potential for their improvement through food pantry interventions in the United States
Physiol Behav
(2020)- et al.
The dietary quality of food pantry users: a systematic review of existing literature
J Acad Nutr Diet
(2017) - et al.
The nutritional quality of food provided from food pantries: a systematic review of existing literature
J Acad Nutr Diet
(2017) - et al.
Update of the Healthy Eating Index: HEI-2010
J Acad Nutr Diet
(2013) - et al.
Frequency of food pantry use is associated with diet quality among Indiana food pantry clients
J Acad Nutr Diet
(2019) - et al.
Breakfast consumption is positively associated with usual nutrient intakes among food pantry clients living in rural communities
J Nutr
(2020) - et al.
A novel food pantry program: food security, self-sufficiency, and diet-quality outcomes
Am J Prev Med
(2013) - et al.
Maintenance of a nutrient database for clinical trials
Control Clin Trials
(1989) - et al.
Research electronic data capture (REDCap)—a metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research informatics support
J Biomed Inform
(2009)
Comparison of multiple-pass 24-hour recall estimates of energy intake with total energy expenditure determined by the doubly labeled water method in young children
J Am Diet Assoc
Update of the Healthy Eating Index: HEI-2015
J Acad Nutr Diet
Evaluation of the Healthy Eating Index-2015
J Acad Nutr Diet
Fruit and Vegetable Healthy Eating Index component scores of distributed food bags were positively associated with Client Diet scores in a sample of rural, Midwestern food pantries
J Acad Nutr Diet
Applications of the Healthy Eating Index for surveillance, epidemiology, and intervention research: considerations and caveats
J Acad Nutr Diet
Nudging healthier food and beverage choices through salience and priming. Evidence from a systematic review
Food Qual Prefer
Preferred healthy food nudges, food store environments, and customer dietary practices in 2 low-income southern communities
J Nutr Educ Behav
Attitudes and behaviors of food donors and perceived needs and wants of food shelf clients
J Nutr Educ Behav
Weekend-weekday differences in reported dietary intake: the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey, 1977–78
Nutr Res
Statistical supplement to household food security in the United States in 2019
Hunger in America 2014
Access and enrollment in safety net programs in the wake of COVID-19: a national cross-sectional survey
PloS ONE
How we respond to disasters
A behavioural economics approach to improving healthy food selection among food pantry clients
Public Health Nutr
Nutritional contributions of food pantries and other sources to the diets of rural, Midwestern food pantry users in the USA
Br J Nutr
Daily dietary intake patterns improve after visiting a food pantry among food-insecure rural midwestern adults
Nutrients
A pilot food bank intervention featuring diabetes-appropriate food improved glycemic control among clients in three states
Health Aff Proj Hope
Cited by (0)
C. E. Caspi is director of food security initiatives, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, University of Connecticut, Hartford; an associate professor, Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs; and an assistant/associate professor, Program in Health Disparities Research, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
C. Davey is a data analyst with the Biostatistical Design and Analysis Center, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
C. B. Barsness is a project manager, Program in Health Disparities Research, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
J. Wolfson is an associate professor, Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
H. Peterson is a professor, Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St Paul.
R. Pratt is an aassistant professor, Program in Health Disparities Research, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT This research was supported by the National Institute of Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (grant no 1R01136640); NIH grant no UL1TR000114 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences supported data management. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. Funding agencies had no role in the design, analysis, or writing of this article.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS C. B. Barsness was responsible for data management and C. Davey conducted the data analysis on consultation with J. Wolfson. C. E. Caspi wrote the first draft with contributions from H. Peterson and R. Pratt. All authors reviewed and commented on subsequent drafts of the manuscript.