Dietary Intake
Conditions
Keywords
Military, Vegetable intake, Food photography
Brief summary
The goal of this study is to evaluate whether the addition of spices and herbs to the vegetables served to military personnel on a large military base can increase vegetable intake as compared to typical vegetable offerings without spices and herbs. A two-phase intervention will be conducted on base at Naval Station Activity Bethesda (NSAB) to evaluate whether the addition of spices and herbs to vegetable dishes can increase vegetable intake amongst military service members. Phase I will involve extensive engagement with key stakeholders involved in current vegetable consumption at NSAB, including military service members, staff dietitians, the health promotion specialist on base, barracks managers, military culinary specialist, unit leaders, morale welfare and recreations/single sailor program leaders, base senior enlisted leaders, and the base commander. Questionnaires will be administered evaluating current barriers to vegetable intake at NSAB, familiarity with and liking of a variety of spices and herbs, and sensory testing of several vegetables with and without spices and herbs. The recipes in the vegetable sensory testing comparisons will be identical other than spices and herbs content. Phase II will involve will focus upon the direct measurement of vegetable intake (primary outcome) and vegetable linking (secondary outcome) among active-duty service members with spices and herbs and without spices and herbs. The vegetables will be provided as part of an entire meal on a grab and go plate. The other foods in the meal (proteins, starches, etc.) accompanying the vegetables will be kept consistently paired to vegetable recipes to minimize confounding. Vegetable intake will be assessed via cell phone pictures and liking will be assessed by a single 5-point Likert scale question.
Interventions
OTHERSpiced
Vegetables provided to volunteers will be spiced.
OTHERPlain
Vegetables provided to volunteers will be plain.
Sponsors
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
McCormick Science Institute
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Junior Service Member (E1-E4 or O1-O3) * Read and write English
Exclusion criteria
* Anyone under 18 years of age * Anyone not in the U.S. military
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetable consumption | Volunteers will be provided with a series of heat and serve meal kits over approximately 2 month time period. | Volunteers will provided with a heat and serve meal kit. Using the food photography mobile application (SmartIntake), volunteers will take a single photo of the meal kit after they have consumed a self-determined desired amount of food. The digital photo will be sent to Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC) for analysis via the SmartIntake app. The team at PBRC will download the image and use a validated algorithm to estimate, in cups, the remaining vegetable component from the meal kit. |
| Phase I - Primary Outcome: United States Military - Menu Item Survey | Volunteers will be provided with a series of 8 recipes to evaluate over the course of a single taste testing session through study completion, an average of 1 year. | Overall liking of menu item, specific ratings of the appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, and overall appeal of the menu item, and qualitative feedback on general impressions of the menu item |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed