The American Heart Association’s Health Care by Food initiative funded four abstracts presented at the Scientific Sessions 2025. Two of these efforts to incorporate healthy food into health care are summarized here.
Stephen Juraschek, MD, presented DASH-Patterned Groceries Reduce Blood Pressure: Results from the GoFresh Randomized Clinical Trial. Results were simultaneously published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. GoFresh (Groceries for Black Residents of Boston to Stop Hypertension Among Adults Without Treated Hypertension; NCT05121337) asked if home-delivered groceries based on the low-sodium DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) plan with dietary counseling could lower blood pressure (BP) among black adults living in “food deserts,” that is, areas with few grocery stores.
The study enrolled 180 individuals who self-identified as black, resided in Boston-area food deserts, had elevated BP and access to refrigeration, cooking appliances, and Wi-Fi/cellular service. The study excluded those taking anti-hypertensives, having diabetes, stage 4 or 5 chronic kidney disease, hyperkalemia, or in families with >6 adults at dinner. Participants were randomly assigned 1:1 to weekly home-delivered DASH-patterned groceries tailored to caloric needs with dietician counseling for 12 weeks, or to the comparator of 3 $500 stipends every 4 weeks for self-directed grocery shopping. During the study urine sodium, systolic and diastolic BP, and LDL-cholesterol were reduced in the DASH group more than in the comparator group, although benefits were not sustained once the intervention ended.
Dr. Juraschek said future directions include expanding this intervention to Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida, partnering with GoFresh World, an international consortium, to establish universal principles in grocery ordering to promote cardiometabolic health throughout the world, and developing an app to automate the intervention throughout the US.
Ambarish Pandey, MD, presented results from the Food Supplementation Delivered Conditionally vs Not Among Patients With Heart Failure (FOOD-HF; NCT06115369) trial. Adults (N=150) with heart failure (HF) within 14 days of discharge after hospitalization for HF were randomly assigned 1:1:1 to medically tailored meals (MTM; 14 fully prepared/week) vs fresh produce (FP; fruits, vegetables, whole grains, diary eggs, olive oil, and pantry staples and recipes) supplementation vs usual care of standardized dietary counseling. There was also a secondary 1:1 random assignment to conditional (linked to outpatient appointment attendance and prescription refills) vs unconditional food supplementation.
The intervention was for 90-days and was completed by 96% of participants. There was no significant difference in rate of HF hospitalization or emergency department visits among groups, between MTM or FP and usual care separately, or between conditional vs unconditional delivery. Participant-reported meal adherence, acceptability, and satisfaction were greater for FP than MTM. Food supplementation was associated with improved quality of life, and was greater with conditional delivery.
Dr. Pandey said next steps include a larger, multicenter trial to evaluate clinical outcomes over a longer follow-up, focusing on FP in the post-HF hospitalization patient population. Discussant Carolyn Lamb, MBBS, said FOOD-HF addresses an underappreciated area in HF. This well-executed pilot study provides data on feasibility and patient preferences to inform the design of larger, longer, multicenter trials.
Dr. Lederman has no conflicts of interest to report.
Illustration by Jennifer Bogartz
