Elaine Borawski
Case Western Reserve University, OH·Public Health & Epidemiology
Not having enough healthy food during pregnancy, known as food insecurity, is strongly linked to premature birth and other poor birth outcomes. Health systems are increasingly trying "food as medicine" approaches such as medically tailored groceries (MTG).
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
food insecurity
medically tailored groceries
food as medicine
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2029
What they work on
- Compare clinic-based pickup, home delivery, and home delivery plus nutrition and cooking education of medically tailored groceries in a randomized trial of 360 food-insecure pregnant patients in Cleveland.
- Measure outcomes for mothers and babies at enrollment, near delivery, and six months after birth to identify the unique contribution of each grocery approach.
- Identify barriers to delivering and using medically tailored grocery programs, such as transportation and cooking resources, within EHR-based food-as-medicine referral systems.
More about the research
These are fresh and shelf-stable unprocessed foods that a nutrition professional picks to match a patient's treatment plan, for the patient to cook at home. In people with diabetes, clinic-based MTG has been shown to improve medication adherence and fruit and vegetable intake. It has also lowered HbA1c, a blood marker of long-term sugar control. Much less is known about MTG for pregnant patients. Clinic pickup can also be hard for low-income families who lack transportation, kitchen equipment or cooking skills.
Why it matters
Food insecurity in pregnancy raises health risks and medical costs for mothers and babies. By testing whether home delivery and cooking education make medically tailored groceries more effective, this work could help hospitals and food banks choose programs that reach low-income pregnant patients. It could also guide efforts to reduce nutrient deficiencies and, potentially, poor birth outcomes such as prematurity.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Sabrina Noel
University of Massachusetts-Lowell, MA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether tailored nutrition education with complementary food provision reduces food insecurity and improves diet, blood glucose and HIV outcomes, in a randomized pilot trial of 100 people with HIV and prediabetes.
Matthew Haemer
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus, CO·Public Health & Epidemiology
Compare BMI reduction between the family-inclusive Healthy Living Program and a recommended primary care counseling control in low-income Hispanic children with obesity across three age groups, 2-6, 7-12 and 13-16 years, in a randomized controlled trial.
Susan Perez
Tulane University of Louisiana, LA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Determine whether a multifaceted patient-centered maternity care intervention improves hospital maternal outcomes and patient satisfaction, compared with remote self-paced training alone, in a cluster randomized trial across 9 Ochsner hospitals.
The school
Case Western Reserve University: 34 labs on PI Pages, $643M a year on research, 213 research doctorates a year.
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