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People who eat fresh food are healthier than those who don't. That simple fact is the basis of food prescription programs that make fruits, vegetables and other foods free for people who are food insecure.

But just giving people vouchers to redeem for fresh produce isn't enough. Research shows that only 9% to 18% of those who receive such vouchers actually use them.

A new study by University at Buffalo researchers has found that when fresh produce is delivered directly to participants' homes, those numbers jump to nearly 90%. The findings were published last month in Frontiers in Public Health.

"The problem historically with food prescription programs is that people get the vouchers but don't redeem them," says Lucia A. Leone, Ph.D., corresponding author and associate professor of community health and health behavior in the School of Public Health and Health Professions at UB. "Our goal was to test different versions of home delivery to ideally boost redemption and compare to what has been the standard approach, which was to give people vouchers to redeem at a mobile market."

The 12-week, randomized controlled study consisted of two intervention arms and a standard-of-care arm. A total of 67 adults, mostly African Americans over the age of 65, who had indicated that they have at times been food insecure were recruited from primary care clinics at Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) in Buffalo.

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