Associate Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences
University of Calgary
Food is Medicine interventions aim to integrate provision of nutritious food into healthcare services. While many uncontrolled pre-post studies suggest that these interventions may improve the diet quality, food security and health of food insecure populations, very few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) capable of showing cause and effect have been conducted in the field. This presentation will describe our experience in conducting the FoodRx RCT to examine the impact of a healthy food prescription incentive program among adults with diabetes and food insecurity. The presentation will encompass the design of the trial, its main findings, and major challenges encountered and how they were addressed. Learning objectives include: 1) Understand Food is Medicine interventions; 2) Understand the design and main outcomes of the FoodRx RCT; 3) Understand the challenges of conducting RCTs of Food is Medicine interventions and strategies to address them.
Dr. Dana Olstad is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary and a Registered Dietitian. She is recognized for expertise in the role of policy in reducing socioeconomic inequities in diet quality and health. Dr. Olstad has been at the forefront of leveraging AI and other advanced analytical techniques to comprehensively document trajectories of dietary inequities in Canada, their impact on the health of marginalized groups, and the mechanisms that undergird these associations. Moreover, she is one of few researchers internationally who are leading RCTs to test the impact of novel policy interventions to reduce food insecurity and dietary and health inequities. She has received several awards for her research achievements, including the 2022 CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes/Canadian Nutrition Society Early Career Researcher Partnership Prize.