{"id":73651,"date":"2018-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-researchers-awarded-300000-grant-to-examine-healthy-food-choices\/"},"modified":"2018-02-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T00:00:00","slug":"uri-researchers-awarded-300000-grant-to-examine-healthy-food-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2018\/02\/uri-researchers-awarded-300000-grant-to-examine-healthy-food-choices\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 researchers awarded $300,000 grant to examine healthy food choices"},"content":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I., \u2014 February 6, 2018 \u2014 We have all seen the reports indicating links between dietary choices and risks of developing certain life-threatening illnesses. A recent study<\/a> found that poor diet is a factor in one of five deaths around the world, and a 2010 report<\/a> implicated diet in the deaths of nearly 700,000 Americans.<\/p>\n

However, changing behavior around food is never easy.<\/p>\n

A faculty member in the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Health Sciences<\/a>, part of the University\u2019s Academic Health Collaborative<\/a>, and colleagues in two other colleges are working to address that challenge, thanks to a three-year, $300,000 grant from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maya Vadiveloo, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, is studying whether targeted food-purchase incentives improve people\u2019s eating habits and health outcomes in a cost-effective way that could be widely replicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research is pleased to support Dr. Vadiveloo\u2019s research as part of our work to catalyze innovation and foster a strong scientific workforce for the future,\u201d Sally Rockey, executive director of the foundation, said in the award announcement naming Vadiveloo a 2017 New Innovator<\/a> in Food and Agricultural Research.<\/p>\n

She is a nutritional epidemiologist and registered dietitian whose research focuses on identifying and understanding factors that improve population-level dietary quality and that reduce obesity and related health risks.<\/p>\n

Vadiveloo has teamed up with consumer behavior expert Stephen Atlas, assistant professor of marketing in the College of Business Administration<\/a>, and biostatistics and epidemiology expert Ashley Buchanan, assistant professor of practice in the College of Pharmacy<\/a>. In addition Anne Thorndike, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, has been acting as Vadiveloo\u2019s mentor on the project.<\/p>\n

The researchers found an enthusiastic community partner in the Belmont Market, a grocery store in Wakefield founded by 溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus Jack Siravo Jr. \u201cBelmont Market has always been driven by our customers\u2019 preferences. Our mission has always been to provide the community the best products and service possible. We look forward to this opportunity to partner with 溏心vlog免费B站 where their expertise of sales analysis would provide us a deeper understanding of how to encourage healthier eating,\u201d Siravo said of his company\u2019s interest in participating in the project.<\/p>\n

The research team will collect food purchasing data through Belmont Market\u2019s loyalty card program and create healthy food purchase incentives based on the data analysis. \u201cWe will first set a baseline, collecting data on current food purchasing habits and categorizing food groups. Then, we will generate healthy alternatives within each food group,\u201d Vadiveloo explained.<\/p>\n

For example, a consumer who regularly buys sugary yogurt will be given a coupon to buy fruit-sweetened yogurt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to try to move people up a notch or two to improve diet quality over time,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to give people opportunities to make small changes in diet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siravo noted that Belmont Market caters to a unique community with many different dietary preferences, and the company already watches trends and brings in new items to offer customers unique choices.<\/p>\n

Atlas\u2019 consumer behavior expertise and Buchanan\u2019s data analysis skills will allow the researchers to hone in on the most effective incentives, targeting healthy alternatives that might appeal to a particular consumer.<\/p>\n

Once the baseline data is analyzed, the team will divide participants into two groups. For three months, one group will receive incentives targeted to their particular purchases while the other group receives general incentive coupons. For the following three months, both groups receive no incentives. Then, the group that initially received targeted incentives will receive general ones for three months, and the group that initially received general incentives will receive targeted ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure each dollar is being spent on the best food possible,\u201d Vadiveloo said.<\/p>\n

Siravo recognizes the value in that objective. \u201c溏心vlog免费B站 can help guide us in reaching our patrons with these options that would suit their tastes and habits.\u00a0This commitment to improving community health and well being does not have a one-size-fits-all solution, and this collaboration aligns with our mission of being customer-centric, with individual attention and incentives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If the targeted incentives prove successful, the research team will explore how large organizations \u2014 from health insurers to corporate wellness programs \u2014 could incorporate healthy food choice incentives and improve the dietary habits and health outcomes of large numbers of consumers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I., \u2014 February 6, 2018 \u2014 We have all seen the reports indicating links between dietary choices and risks of developing certain life-threatening illnesses. A recent study found that poor diet is a factor in one of five deaths around the world, and a 2010 report implicated diet in the deaths of nearly 700,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}