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Participants were adults in the Baton Rouge area who picked up FV at a central site.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/changes-to-fruit-and-vegetable-intake-and-waste-when-households-receive-free-produce/404008/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/changes-to-fruit-and-vegetable-intake-and-waste-when-households-receive-free-produce/404008.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"CatatanPagi","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-09-27",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",9,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What was the study’s main objective?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"To evaluate changes in household food intake, fruit and vegetable (FV) waste, and FV inventories after free FV provision, and in response to a smart coaching intervention aimed at reducing waste and improving diet quality.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How were households assigned to groups?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Households were randomized to receive either the coaching intervention to reduce food waste and replace less healthy foods with FV or a control intervention, with both groups receiving free FV.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What were the key findings about intake and waste events?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Treatment participants increased fruit and vegetable intake compared with control. Free FV provision led to more and larger FV waste events overall, while pairing free FV with targeted intervention improved diet quality with no significant increase in energy intake or plate waste and smaller increases in waste events.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},404008,1790961609,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,115,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":107,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":99,"preview_page_count":4},962090894170,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","medRxiv preprint doi: [https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.23.25326258](https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.23.25326258); this version posted April 25, 2025. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.  \nIt is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .  \nChanges to Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Waste When Households Receive Free Produce  \nBrian E. Roe,a,* Hanim E. Diktas,b and Danyi Qi,c Corby K. Martin,b and John W. Apolzan,b  \na – Dept. of Agricultural, Environmental & Development Economics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 b – Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70808  \nc – Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70802  \n* – Corresponding author ([roe.30@osu.edu](roe.30@osu.edu))  \nAbstract  \nObjective: The study evaluated changes in household food intake, the waste of fruits and vegetables (FV), and FV inventories after supplemental produce was provided free of charge and in response to a smart coaching intervention to reduce food waste and replace less nutritious foods with FV.  \nDesign: Households measured food intake and waste for ≥3 days before and after intervention. Households were randomized to receive either an intervention to reduce food waste and replace less healthy foods with FV or a control intervention. Both groups received free FV and measured FV inventories before and after intervention.  \nSetting: Participants were from the Baton Rouge, Louisiana region and picked up FV at a central location.  \nParticipants: 46 adults and their household members.  \nResults: Treatment participants increased intake of fruits (0.33 servings/day, p=0.09) and vegetables (0.50 servings/day, p=0.01) compared to the control group. All participants reported a decrease in daily total caloric intake (133 kcal/day, p=0.04), an increase in the number (9.5 events/period, p\u003C0.001) and average magnitude (100.5 g/event, p=0.005) ofFV waste events, and an increase in fresh FV inventories (4.1 kg/household, p=0.001) after receiving free FVs. Compared to the control group, treatment participants reported less FV waste during eating occasions (22.2 g/day, p=0.09) and an increase in frozen FV inventories (1.8 kg/household, p=0.04) .  \nConclusions. Providing free FVs without additional intervention does not increase FV intake but does lead to more and larger FV waste events. When coupled with targeted information to improve diet quality and reduce waste, free FV provision can lead to increased FV intake with no significant increase in energy intake or plate waste and smaller increases in the number and magnitude ofFV waste events, suggesting that pairing intensive intervention efforts with free FV provision is critical to translate program resources into improved nutrition without increasing waste.  \nKey Words: diet, food waste, randomized trial, coaching intervention, subsidy  \nNOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice.  \nmedRxiv preprint doi: [https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.23.25326258](https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.23.25326258); this version posted April 25, 2025. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.  \nIt is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .  \nIntroduction  \nFederal guidelines (USDA & USDHHS 2020) recommend a dietary pattern featuring greater consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV) to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, some cancers, and obesity, whose prevention would yield numerous health and economic benefits (Biener et al. 2017) . Despite extensive public messaging and well-documented evidence of health and ","cbCaitSz9sXkmkfT","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitSz9sXkmkfT","pdf",359418,24,"English","# Abstract\n## Objective\n## Design\n## Setting\n## Participants\n## Results\n## Conclusions\n# Introduction","[{\"question\":\"What was the study’s main objective?\",\"answer\":\"To evaluate changes in household food intake, fruit and vegetable (FV) waste, and FV inventories after free FV provision, and in response to a smart coaching intervention aimed at reducing waste and improving diet quality.\"},{\"question\":\"How were households assigned to groups?\",\"answer\":\"Households were randomized to receive either the coaching intervention to reduce food waste and replace less healthy foods with FV or a control intervention, with both groups receiving free FV.\"},{\"question\":\"What were the key findings about intake and waste events?\",\"answer\":\"Treatment participants increased fruit and vegetable intake compared with control. Free FV provision led to more and larger FV waste events overall, while pairing free FV with targeted intervention improved diet quality with no significant increase in energy intake or plate waste and smaller increases in waste events.\"}]","Changes to Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Waste When Households Receive Free Produce | PDF",1790545170]