SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH: Prescribing fruits and vegetables with added nutrition teaching component

The effectiveness of a fruit and vegetable prescription program (FVRx) model called “Prevention Produce” developed at the Penn State College of Medicine has been studied in a pilot program at Penn State Hershey Medical Center (Hershey, PA).  This model combines vouchers for produce purchases with nutrition teaching done by medical students.  Daily fresh produce consumption was found to increase.  A coincidental increase in exercise frequency was also found although this was not a formal part of the curriculum.

Source: Forbes, J.M., Forbes, C.R., Lehman, E., and George, D.R. (2019). “Prevention produce”: Integrating medical student mentorship into a fruit and vegetable prescription program for at-risk patients. Permanente Journal, 23.  Click here for full text: http://www.thepermanentejournal.org/files/2019/18-238.pdf  Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org