Recruiting

Culinary Medicine

Sponsor:

Tulane University

Code:

NCT07011459

Conditions

Cardiovascular Diseases

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 55 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Cooking class

Standard of care

Study Details

Brief summary:

Poor nutrition-related diseases disproportionately impact seniors and racial/ethnic minorities who are more likely to experience disparities in proper nutrition. Culinary medicine is a new evidence-based educational approach that blends the art of food and cooking with the science of medicine. Recently, culinary medicine is proposed by the 2020-2030 Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research and national 'Food is Medicine (FIM)' Movement as potential solutions for improving healthy eating, creating social and emotional connections, and nutrition-related health equity. Built upon the well-established community teaching kitchen at The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine (GCCM) at Tulane University and nearly 10 years of experience in delivering culinary education of Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), the investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the feasibility and effectiveness of 3-month community teaching kitchen-based culinary education of MedDiet on improving cardiometabolic and mental health among racially and ethnically diverse seniors.

Conditions

Cardiovascular Diseases

Study ID

NCT07011459

Start date

Jul 7, 2025

Status verified date

Sep, 2025

Completion date

Dec, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 55 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 55 years or older
  • English speaking
  • Ability to provide informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Medical history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer.
  • Food allergies including, but not limited to, milk, eggs, shellfish, nuts, wheat or gluten, and soy.
  • Special diets including, but not limited to, Mediterranean, veganism, vegetarianism, gluten-free, and the ketogenic diet.
  • Current use of medications that could affect blood glucose and lipids levels including, but not limited to, insulins (Humalog, Novolog, insulin detemir, etc.), anti-diabetic medications (metformin, sulfonylureas, meglitinides, etc.), Ozempic. HAART, and beta blockers.
  • No children are involved.
  • No other vulnerable subjects will be involved.

Study Design

Enrollment

96 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

active comparator: Culinary intervention group

The interventions include the teaching-kitchen based structured, hands-on culinary education classes.

placebo comparator: Usual diet control group

Participants randomized to the usual diet group will not receive culinary education classes, while they will continue to receive clinical care recommendations from their physician(s).

Interventions

Cooking class

3-month community teaching kitchen-based culinary education of MedDiet

Standard of care

Participants will continue to receive clinical care recommendations from their physicians

Primary outcome measure

  • Change in blood pressure measurements [ Time Frame: Baseline, 3 months ]
  • Change in blood glucose measurements [ Time Frame: Baseline, 3 months ]
  • Change in blood lipid profile measurements [ Time Frame: Baseline, 3 months ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Cristina Miller, MPH

504-988-2166cmiller17@tulane.edu

Marquita Canatella, RN

504-988-1809mcanatella@tulane.edu

Locations

The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine

Recruiting

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70112

Contacts

Heather Nace

504-988-9108hnace@tulane.edu

Principal Investigator:

Vivian Fonseca, MD

Tulane Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Recruiting

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70112

Contacts

Cristina Miller, MPH

504-988-2166cmiller17@tulane.edu

Marquita Canatella, RN

504-988-1809mcanatella@tulane.edu

Principal Investigator:

Lu Qi, MD, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

Tulane University

Last update posted

Sep 11, 2025

Last verified

Sep, 2025

Keywords

  • Culinary
  • Cardiometabolic health
  • Mental health
  • Mediterranean Diet
  • Nutrition

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Tulane University on 2025-09-11.