Evaluating Effectiveness of Spices and Herbs to Increase Vegetable Intake Among Military

Uniformed Services University (USU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Dietary Intake

Treatments: Other: Spiced; Other: Plain

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Other U.S. Federal agency; Industry

Identifiers

NCT05499858

USUHS- 2022-105

Details and patient eligibility

About

"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."

Enrollment: 400 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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400 participants in 1 patient group

Vegetables

Other group

Description:

Vegetables will be provided to volunteers as part of a heat and serve meal kit.

Treatment:

Other: Plain

Other: Spiced