# Food supplementation interventions to improve weight loss for adults with food insecurity and obesity

> **NIH NIH R56** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2022 · $176,525

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Food insecurity is common among people with obesity and is associated with suboptimal outcomes in
behavioral weight loss (BWL) treatment. However, we do not yet have evidence of treatment approach to
address food insecurity and obesity that can target multiple barriers including cost, access, skills, knowledge,
and behavior.
improving
The overarching goal of this application is to reduce socioeconomic disparities in obesity by
patients' abilities to afford and access nutritious foods during BWL treatment. To accomplish thisgoal, the proposed 3-group, parallel design, randomized controlled trial will assign 258 adults with obesity and
food insecurity to BWL-Alone (including standard-of-care referral and connection with community food
resources;
delivered,
vouchers
provided
of
n=86); BWL plus food supplementation with either food vouchers (BWL+VOUCHER; n=86); home-
medically tailored groceries consistent with BWL recommendations (BWL+HOME; n=86). Food
and HOME will be provided for the first 24 weeks o treatment. All groups will have BWL treatment
for 52 weeks per CMS guidelines. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, and weeks 12, 24 (end
food supplementation), and 52 (end of BWL treatment).
f
Our aims are to test the hypothesis that
BWL+VOUCHER and BWL+HOME will result in greater weight loss (percent of initial weight) at 24 weeks than
BWL-Alone. A secondary aim is to determine if BWL+VOUCHER and BWL+HOME result in better weight loss
at 52 weeks compared to BWL-Alone. Additional secondary aims are to examine treatment differences in
health-related quality of life and self-reported and objective measures of dietary quality. The expected outcome
of this study is to demonstrate feasible food support interventions that can be used within health care systems
to address social determinants of health and achieve better health equity, and is well aligned to contribute to
the mission of the National Institute of Nursing Research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10695312
- **Project number:** 1R56NR020466-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** ARIANA MARIE CHAO
- **Activity code:** R56 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $176,525
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-21 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10695312

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10695312, Food supplementation interventions to improve weight loss for adults with food insecurity and obesity (1R56NR020466-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10695312. Licensed CC0.

---

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