Clinical trial · Interventional
Screening for and Responding to Food Insecurity Among Infusion Patients
Screening for and Responding to Food Insecurity Among Simmons Infusion Patients at RedBird
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Food insecurity impacts 1 in 8 people in the United States and 1 in 4 people receiving cancer treatment. Food insecurity is associated with poor dietary quality, adverse health conditions (e.g., Type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity, hypertension), and worse cancer treatment outcomes. To effectively address food insecurity among people with cancer, screening and effective response programs are needed. The Food to Overcome Disparities (FOOD) program screens breast cancer patients for food insecurity and refers people who screen positive to 11 clinic pantries across New York City. In addition to clinic referrals, researchers have found the addition of monthly grocery vouchers or home grocery delivery to be even more effective at improving treatment completion rates than pantry access alone. Another innovative food security strategy, nutritious no-prep, ready-to-eat meals may also be helpful for patients given that no-prep meals reduce the time and physical demand of food preparation. Nutritious no-prep, ready-to-eat meals have been positively associated with improvements in healthy eating index (HEI) scores, fewer instances of hypoglycemia, and improved quality of life among people with food insecurity that have diabetes, but has yet to be tested among patients with cancer. People receiving cancer treatment, such as infusion services, often report fatigue and other barriers to food preparation, which make no-prep, ready-to-eat meals another potential solution to cancer-specific challenges to healthy eating. In the present study the investigators will test which evidence-based strategies are most effective and well-liked by patients and will inform the development of a comprehensive food security response program at the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Conditions
Conditions (3)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancer | Malignant Neoplasm | ALIAS | 0.90 |
| Diet, Healthy | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Nutrition, Healthy | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (3)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food pantry referrals | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| No-prep, ready-to-eat meals | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Vouchers | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (3)
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- Pantry only
- description
- Referrals to onsite food pantry or emergency food boxes from partner pantry if onsite pantry is not open by 2024.
- interventionNames
- Other: Food pantry referrals
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Nutritious, no-prep meals
- description
- Participants will receive up to 12 nutritious no-prep meals per month (three meals per week) for three-months.
- interventionNames
- Other: Food pantry referrals
- Other: No-prep, ready-to-eat meals
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Vouchers
- description
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Patient at the Simmons cancer center * Adults 18 years or older * Ability to understand and willingness to provide informed consent * Screens positive for food and/or nutrition insecurity * No allergies or digestive diseases that could put participant at-risk of harm from consuming study foods (e.g., celiacs disease, dairy allergy, wheat allergy) Exclusion Criteria: * Not a patient at the Simmons cancer center * Under 18 years of age * Unable to provide informed consent * Not wanting to participate * Does not screen positive for food and/or nutrition insecurity * Allergies or digestive diseases that could put participants at-risk of harm from consuming study foods (e.g., celiacs disease, dairy allergy, wheat allergy).
References
Publications (2)
- BACKGROUNDGany F, Melnic I, Wu M, Li Y, Finik J, Ramirez J, Blinder V, Kemeny M, Guevara E, Hwang C, Leng J. Food to Overcome Outcomes Disparities: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Food Insecurity Interventions to Improve Cancer Outcomes. J Clin Oncol. 2022 Nov 1;40(31):3603-3612. doi: 10.1200/JCO.21.02400. Epub 2022 Jun 16. PMID 35709430
- BACKGROUNDBerkowitz SA, Delahanty LM, Terranova J, Steiner B, Ruazol MP, Singh R, Shahid NN, Wexler DJ. Medically Tailored Meal Delivery for Diabetes Patients with Food Insecurity: a Randomized Cross-over Trial. J Gen Intern Med. 2019 Mar;34(3):396-404. doi: 10.1007/s11606-018-4716-z. Epub 2018 Nov 12. PMID 30421335