Produce Prescriptions and Veggie Meter Scores for College Food Security

Produce Prescriptions and Veggie-Meter Scores: A Feasibility and Pilot Study of an 8-Week Produce Box Intervention to Improve Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Food Security in College Students

The goal of this pilot intervention study is to learn if providing weekly produce boxes helps college students who struggle to afford healthy food. It will also test if this program is practical to run on a college campus. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does receiving free produce boxes increase students' fruit and vegetable intake?
• Does the program improve students' food security and nutrient levels in the skin? Researchers will measure skin carotenoids (a marker of healthy eating) using a non-invasive finger scan called a Veggie Meter to see if the produce boxes improve nutrition biomarkers.

Participants will:

• Receive one free box of fresh fruits and vegetables plus printed nutrition education materials every week for 8 weeks.
• Visit the campus site at the start, week 4 and end of the study [week 8] for a finger scan, measure their weight and to complete surveys.
• Provide feedback on their experience with the produce boxes and their food access.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Must be a currently enrolled student at Rutgers Health.
• Must be 18 years of age or older.
• Must be able to pick up a produce box weekly at the designated campus distribution site for 8 consecutive weeks.
• Must provide informed consent to participate in the study, including all data collection time points (Weeks 0, 4, and 8).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not a currently enrolled student at Rutgers Health.
• Less than 18 years of age.
• Not able to pick up food weekly
• Not willing to go through study assessments.