Restaurant-Based Nutritious Eating with Soul Intervention with Meal Provision Improves Weight Loss among African American Adults Versus Meal Provision Alone.
John A Bernhart, Gabrielle M Turner-McGrievy, Alexis Bell et al.
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
In 30 seconds
This type 2 hybrid effectiveness trial evaluated a 12-week restaurant-based nutrition program among African-American adults with overweight or obesity in three restaurants across two US cities. Participants were randomly assigned to weekly classes plus one free meal or to one free meal alone. Among 236 participants, the classes-plus-meal group lost more weight than the meal-only group, with a between-group change of -1.1 ± 0.5 kg (P = 0.01). Diet quality improved within both groups, but there was no between-group difference; blood pressure also showed no between-group differences.
Key findings
- The classes-plus-meal group had greater weight loss than the meal-only group (between-group change: -1.1 ± 0.5 kg; P = 0.01).
- Diet quality improved within both groups, with no between-group difference (4.5 ± 4.0; P = 0.26).
- No between-group differences were observed in systolic (2.0 ± 2.0; P = 0.30) or diastolic blood pressure (change 1.6 ± 1.4; P = 0.28).
Why it matters
The trial suggests that community restaurants can serve as settings for nutrition implementation research and that adding structured classes to meal provision may improve short-term weight loss. The lack of between-group differences in diet quality and blood pressure indicates that benefits were not uniform across measured outcomes, underscoring the value of evaluating multiple clinical and implementation outcomes when programs are delivered in community settings.
What to keep in mind
The intervention lasted 12 weeks, so longer-term weight and health outcomes are not established by this study.