# Project 1: Keiki Produce Prescription (KPRx) Program: Improving Diet Assessment and Quantifying Health Impacts

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA · 2022 · $305,434

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Children living in food-insecure homes, defined as at some time during the last year their household not having
enough food, money, or resources to feed the family experience low intake of fresh fruits and vegetables (FV),
and a trajectory for increased risk of obesity and chronic diseases in adulthood. In Hawai‘i, a higher proportion
of Native Hawaiian (NH) and other Pacific Islander (OPI) children live in food-insecure households when
compared with the state average (30% and 50%, respectively vs. 18%) and NHOPI adults suffer
disproportionately from chronic disease. Produce prescription programs, provide vouchers to individuals to
purchase fresh FV, are promising strategies to improve diet quality and reduce chronic disease risk among
food insecure populations. The long-term objective of this research is to reduce nutrition-related health
disparities via clinical-community based programming. The Keiki (child) Produce Prescription (KPRx) program
was developed and implemented by enlisting University and community researchers and health care providers
at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC). The current study builds on the
community-academic partnership to achieve the following specific aims 1) develop and validate a quantitative,
food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for NHOPI children (HCFFQ) and 2) measure effectiveness of the KPRx
on FV intake, gut microbiome composition, and health related biomarkers in 100 parent-child dyads in the
context of household food insecurity from a predominantly NHOPI community in Hawaiʻi. An NHOPI-rich
population-specific dietary database from the Children’s Healthy Living Program study will be utilized to
develop a valid, reliable Hawaii Child Food Frequency Questionnaire (HCFFQ) (Aim 1). A community based
participatory research approach to carry out a randomized controlled trial that measures the effect of the KPRx
on child diet and microbiome, and parent/caregiver diet and health-related biomarkers on 100 parent-child
dyads in the context of household food insecurity will be conducted (Aim 2). The community-informed
research study will provide data to inform local and state healthcare and nutrition assistance programming
policies aimed at reducing food insecurity and health disparities among NHOPI and minority populations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10335720
- **Project number:** 1P20GM139753-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
- **Principal Investigator:** Monica Kazlausky Esquivel
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $305,434
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-03-20 → 2027-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10335720

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10335720, Project 1: Keiki Produce Prescription (KPRx) Program: Improving Diet Assessment and Quantifying Health Impacts (1P20GM139753-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10335720. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*