Food is the Best Medicine (FBM): design and baseline findings from a multi-arm randomized controlled trial among food-insecure postpartum mothers in Texas

Top Things to Know

FIM interventions may need more than food provision alone to create lasting change.

The postpartum period may represent a high-impact opportunity for FIM programs.

The inclusion of both CHW and virtual support arms reflects an effort to identify FIM models that are not only effective, but also feasible for healthcare systems and community organizations to implement more broadly.

Summary of Conclusion/Findings

This paper describes the design and baseline findings of the Food is the Best Medicine (FBM) randomized controlled trial, which is evaluating Food Is Medicine interventions among 150 food-insecure postpartum mothers in Central Texas. Participants were randomized to receive either home-delivered food alone (FBM-Standard), food plus Community Health Worker (CHW) support, or food plus a virtual education and resource platform, with the goal of determining which approach best improves food security, diet quality, and other maternal health outcomes. At baseline, the study population was highly vulnerable: 89% were food insecure, most participants were low-income Hispanic mothers, and many experienced financial strain, nutrition insecurity, and other social challenges. Participants consumed an average of 3.9 cups of fruits and vegetables per day, but intake of whole grains was low, and 13% screened positive for postnatal depression. The study is designed to assess whether pairing food delivery with either personalized CHW support or scalable virtual support can produce greater and more sustainable improvements than food delivery alone. The authors emphasize that postpartum mothers are an understudied Food Is Medicine population and that results from this trial may help inform scalable models for improving maternal health and nutrition security.