Eating healthy is one of the biggest challenges for many people living with type 2 diabetes, especially when healthy food is expensive.
A new clinical trial suggests that providing medically tailored groceries can make a real difference. The research was published in Circulation.
People with type 2 diabetes need to keep blood sugar under control to reduce the risk of heart disease, kidney failure, vision loss and nerve damage. While medicines are important, diet also plays a central role. Unfortunately, many low-income families struggle to regularly buy fresh fruits, vegetables and other nutritious foods.
To test whether food support could improve health, researchers from Kaiser Permanente Southern California recruited 460 adults with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. Everyone had Medicaid insurance and elevated HbA1c levels, showing that their blood sugar had remained too high over several months.
Participants either continued their usual care or received specially selected healthy groceries each month for six months. The grocery packages were worth between $100 and $210 each month, and participants also received simple recipes and online nutrition counselling.
The results were encouraging. Blood sugar improved more among people receiving the grocery support than among those receiving standard care alone. HbA1c dropped by about two-thirds of a percentage point in the intervention group, compared with one-quarter of a percentage point in the control group.
People receiving healthy groceries were also much more likely to have reliable access to nutritious food. This improvement in food and nutrition security may help explain why their diabetes control improved.
The study did not find meaningful changes in body weight or blood pressure over the six-month period. However, researchers note that these health measures often require longer follow-up to show improvement.
The benefits were seen across many different groups, including men and women, people with different education levels and those with varying degrees of food insecurity. The findings remained consistent even after adjusting for medications and other medical conditions.
The researchers say these results show that healthcare can extend beyond prescriptions and clinic visits. Helping patients overcome barriers to healthy eating may become an effective part of diabetes management, particularly for people with limited financial resources.
A major strength of this study is that it was a randomized controlled trial, the gold standard for testing treatments. The inclusion of nutrition counselling also reflects real-world diabetes care.
A limitation is that the study was relatively short and involved Medicaid patients, so further studies are needed to determine whether the findings apply to broader populations and whether benefits last after the program ends.
Source: Circulation.
