Research
Original Research: Brief
Applying 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

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Abstract

Background

Food pantry clients are at a high risk for diet-related chronic disease and suboptimal diet. Relatively little research has examined diet quality measures in choice-based food pantries where clients can choose their own food.

Objective

This study tested whether the diet quality scores for food at the pantry were associated with client food selection scores, and whether client food selection scores at the pantry were associated with client diet intake scores.

Design

This cross-sectional regression analysis, part of a larger evaluation study (SuperShelf), used baseline data from client and food pantry surveys, food pantry inventories, assessments of client food selections (“client carts”), and single 24-hour client dietary recalls.

Participants/setting

The analysis includes 316 clients who completed a survey (282 of whom completed a dietary recall measure) from one of 16 choice-based Minnesota food pantries during 2018-2019. Adult English, Spanish, or Somali-speaking clients were eligible in the case that they had selected food on the day of recruitment at their food pantry visit.

Main outcome measures

A Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) Total score and 13 subcomponent scores were calculated for: pantry food inventories of food available on the shelf, client carts, and a 24-hour client dietary recall.

Statistical analysis

Descriptive statistics were generated for client and food pantry characteristics, and for HEI-2015 Total score and subcomponent scores. Linear regression models tested the association between HEI-2015 Total score and subcomponent scores for food pantry inventory and client carts, and for client carts and dietary recalls, adjusted for covariates.

Results

Food pantry inventory HEI-2015 Total score averaged 65.1, client cart Total score averaged 60.8, and dietary recall Total score averaged 50.9. The diet quality scores for inventory were not associated with client cart scores, except for Added Sugars (P = .005). Client cart HEI-2015 Total score was positively associated with client diet HEI-2015 Total score (P = .002) and associations for Total Fruits, Whole Fruits, Total Vegetables, Greens and Beans, Whole Grains, Seafood and Plant Proteins, and Added Sugars subcomponents were statistically significant.

Conclusions

In choice-based Minnesota food pantries, the diet quality of food selected by clients was positively associated with client diet quality.

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.

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  • 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.

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