Recruiting

Diet Quality Matters

Sponsor:

UCLA

Code:

NCT07792564

Conditions

NON APPLICABLE

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Diet Quality Matters (DQM) Nutrition Education and Culinary Skills Program

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a culturally tailored nutrition education intervention designed to improve diet quality and reduce nutrition-related cardiometabolic disease risk among low-income adults participating in the Los Angeles County Food Rx Fresh Produce Distribution Program. Participants are adults aged 18 years and older who experience food insecurity and receive services through Food Rx produce distribution sites.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does participation in the Diet Quality Matters intervention reduce food neophobia (reluctance to try unfamiliar foods)? Does participation improve overall dietary quality as measured by validated diet quality assessment tools? Does participation improve food resource management skills, nutrition-related self-efficacy, and food security? Does participation lead to improvements in cardiometabolic risk indicators, including body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure? Is the intervention acceptable, feasible, and culturally relevant to participants and program staff?

Participants will:

Complete baseline surveys assessing food neophobia, diet quality, food security, food resource management skills, and self-efficacy.

Attend three monthly nutrition education sessions that include:

Guided group motivational interviewing discussions. Live culturally tailored cooking demonstrations. Taste-testing of featured foods. Group discussions about adapting recipes to participants' cultural and household preferences.

Undergo height, weight, and blood pressure measurements. Complete follow-up surveys approximately 3 months after the final intervention session.

Participate in optional feedback interviews regarding their experiences with the program.

Conditions

NON APPLICABLE

Study ID

NCT07792564

Start date

May 21, 2026

Status verified date

Aug, 2026

Completion date

Mar 1, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jan 1, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults aged 18 years or older.
  • Current participant or recipient of services from a Food Rx produce distribution program.
  • Able to provide informed consent.
  • Able to communicate in English or Spanish.
  • Willing and able to attend the nutrition education and recipe demonstration sessions.
  • Previously agreed to be contacted for future research participation or recruited through approved community outreach activities.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Younger than 18 years of age.
  • Pregnant.
  • Unable to provide informed consent due to severe cognitive impairment or other conditions that would prevent meaningful participation in study activities.
  • Unable to communicate in English or Spanish.

Study Design

Enrollment

240 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Other

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Single Arm Intervnetion

Participants receive a culturally tailored nutrition education intervention consisting of three monthly group sessions that include motivational interviewing, live cooking demonstrations, food tasting, and culturally adapted dietary discussions designed to improve diet quality and reduce nutrition-related cardiometabolic disease risk among Food Rx participants. Sessions are delivered during Food Rx produce distribution events over a 3-month period, followed by a 30 day follow-up assessment period.

Interventions

Diet Quality Matters (DQM) Nutrition Education and Culinary Skills Program

Diet Quality Matters (DQM) is a culturally tailored behavioral nutrition education intervention designed to improve diet quality and reduce cardiometabolic disease risk among food-insecure adults participating in the Los Angeles County Food Rx Program. Adapted from the evidence-based Cooking Matters curriculum, DQM combines motivational interviewing, nutrition education, cooking demonstrations, taste testing, and culturally relevant group discussions to increase consumption of diverse minimally processed plant foods and reduce food neophobia. Participants attend three monthly in-person group sessions, each lasting approximately 60 minutes and delivered during Food Rx produce distribution events. Sessions include guided motivational interviewing (15 minutes), a live recipe demonstration and taste testing (30 minutes), and a discussion on adapting healthy eating practices to participants' cultural and household preferences (15 minutes).

Primary outcome measure

  • Change in Diet Quality - GDQQ GDR Score [ Time Frame: Assessed at baseline, prior to study intervention, and again 30 days post last intervention session ]
  • Change in Diet Quality - MDS [ Time Frame: Assessed at baseline, prior to study intervention, and again 30 days post last intervention session ]
  • Change in NCD-Protect Score [ Time Frame: Assessed at baseline, prior to study intervention, and again 30 days post last intervention session ]
  • Change in NCD-Limit Score [ Time Frame: Assessed at baseline, prior to study intervention, and again 30 days post last intervention session ]
  • Change in Food Neophobia [ Time Frame: Assessed at baseline, prior to study intervention, and again 30 days post last intervention session. ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Frederick Ferguson, MD, MS

336-686-2355fferguson@mednet.ucla.edu

Locations

Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Public Health

Recruiting

Los Angeles, California, United States, 90059

Contacts

Frederick Ferguson, MD, MS

336-686-2355fferguson@mednet.ucla.edu

fferguson@mednet.ucla.edu

Principal Investigator:

Frederick Ferguson, MD, MS

More Information

Sponsor

University of California, Los Angeles

Last update posted

Aug 28, 2026

Last verified

Aug, 2026

Keywords

  • diet quality
  • nutrition
  • community-based research

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-09. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of California, Los Angeles on 2026-08-28.