A Mobile Application to Improve Procurement and Distribution of Healthful Foods & Beverages in Baltimore City

NCT05010018 | Completed Results

• 2 other identifiers: 5R34HL145368R34HL145368
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 310
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Low-income urban communities have many small food stores, but poor access to healthier foods and beverages. The investigators will develop, implement and evaluate the feasibility of a Baltimore Urban food Distribution (BUD) web-based application (app) to improve access to affordable, healthier products from local producers/wholesalers in 38 urban corner stores in low-income Baltimore neighborhoods, using a randomized controlled trial design and assess its impact on store stocking and sales. The R34 will provide a developed and tested version of the BUD app, which will resolve challenges related to affordability and delivery of healthful foods and beverages to small food stores, permit development of new instruments, assess potential impacts at the consumer level, permitting power and sample size estimates for the full-scale clinical trial, and demonstrate the investigators' ability to recruit and retain large numbers of wholesalers, producers, and corner stores in low-income urban settings.

Conditions

Obesity

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Change in Stocking of Healthy Foods as Assessed by a Store Impact Questionnaire

  Stocking of healthy foods will be assessed from Pre to Post intervention at participating corner stores. A Store Impact Questionnaire will capture the number of promoted foods and beverages stocked during each visit, based on direct structured observation of corner store shelves. The investigators will create healthy food availability scores (range 0-27). The investigators will calculate change scores, by subtracting each pre measure from each post measure. A higher score is better, indicates more healthy options became available over the intervention.

  Up to 2 months prior to intervention; up to 2 months post intervention

• Change in Sale of Healthy Foods

  Change in sale of promoted healthy foods will be assessed from Pre to Post intervention at participating corner stores (recall over the last 30 day period). Store owners will be asked to recall the sale of selected healthy foods over the last 30 day period.

  Up to 2 months prior to intervention, up to 2 months post intervention

Secondary Outcomes (10)

• Change in Purchasing of Healthy Foods by Consumers

  The Pre measure will be made in the two months prior to starting the intervention; the Post measure will be made in the two month after the end of the intervention

• Change in Consumption of Healthy Eating Index by Consumers

  The Pre-measure will be made in the two months prior to starting the intervention; the Post-measure will be made in the two month after the end of the intervention

• Estimated Changes (Reduction) in Operating Costs

  Up to 2 months post intervention

• Estimated Changes (Savings) in Acquisition Prices

  Up to 2 months post intervention

• Estimated Total Financial Expenses

  Up to 2 months post intervention

Study Arms (2)

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

We will pilot the BUD app in 19 intervention corner stores over an 8-month period in East Baltimore. During this time, we will collect data from corner store owners, producers, whole salers, and consumers.

Behavioral: Web-based application connecting small food store owners and suppliers of healthier foods and beverages

Control

NO INTERVENTION

We will collect data from 19 control corner stores over the same 8-month period. They will not receive any form of intervention or delay intervention.

Interventions

Web-based application connecting small food store owners and suppliers of healthier foods and beverages BEHAVIORAL

The primary intervention is a web-based app that connects small food store owners in low income Baltimore with suppliers of healthier foods and beverages. To reduce costs associated with small purchasing quantities by corner stores, and high delivery charges, the BUD app uses collective purchasing and shared delivery strategies. BUD will be implemented in four stages, where each stage promotes different food/beverage items and introduces new features. The app will be bundled with a small subsidy in stages 1-2 to encourage initial use, increase familiarity with the app and reduce risk. Trainings in the use of the app will take place at the beginning of each phase. BUD will use collective purchasing at stage 2 of implementation (BuddyUp!). The BuddyLift! feature will start in stage 3, enabling small store owners to deliver BuddyUp! deals to other stores for an additional discount. Participating stores and wholesalers will receive point of purchase materials to promote BUD products.

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 21 Years - 75 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Store owner/manager willing and able to order food through a smart phone or other internet-enabled device
• Store owner/manager willing to attend in-store trainings in the use of the BUD App
• Store located in a low-income neighborhood considered as a Healthy Food Priority Area by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future111 in East Baltimore
• Store located \>0.25 miles from a supermarket
• Store classified as a small food store (\< 4 aisles, \< 2 cash registers)
• Store owner/manager is English, Korean, Spanish or Mandarin-speaking for first language
• Provide service to Baltimore City (e.g., for producers, this could mean participating in Baltimore City-based farmers markets)
• Willing to use the BUD app, including posting and maintaining data on a minimum number of products
• Willing to participate with delivery services arranged
• Regular customers of the store (purchase food items at least once a week in the store) identified by the small food store owner/manager enrolled in the study
• Adult (between 21 years old and 75 years old)
• Live/work within a 1/2 mile radius from one of the 38 small food stores participating in the study
• Live in a household of at least 2 persons (criteria intended to provide a more stable sample, to reduce loss to follow-up)

You may not qualify if:

• Anticipate moving out of Baltimore City in the next 12 months
• Pregnant (due to changes in diet, weight and body composition)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: lead
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, Maryland, 21218, United States

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Lewis EC, Zhu S, Oladimeji AT, Igusa T, Martin NM, Poirier L, Trujillo AJ, Reznar MM, Gittelsohn J. Design of an innovative digital application to facilitate access to healthy foods in low-income urban settings. Mhealth. 2023 Nov 3;10:2. doi: 10.21037/mhealth-23-30. eCollection 2024.

  PMID: 38323147 DERIVED

• Gittelsohn J, Lewis EC, Martin NM, Zhu S, Poirier L, Van Dongen EJI, Ross A, Sundermeir SM, Labrique AB, Reznar MM, Igusa T, Trujillo AJ. The Baltimore Urban Food Distribution (BUD) App: Study Protocol to Assess the Feasibility of a Food Systems Intervention. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 26;19(15):9138. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159138.

  PMID: 35897500 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Obesity

Interventions

Beverages

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Overweight; Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Body Weight; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Diet, Food, and Nutrition; Physiological Phenomena; Food and Beverages

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Joel Gittelsohn
• Organization: Johns Hopkins University

jgittel1@jh.edu

1-410-274-5310

Study Officials

• Joel Gittlesohn, PhD

  Johns HopkinsUniversity

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 22, 2021
• First Posted: August 18, 2021
• Study Start: October 29, 2021
• Primary Completion: June 30, 2024
• Study Completion: June 30, 2024
• Last Updated: January 14, 2026
• Results First Posted: January 14, 2026

Record last verified: 2025-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF
• Time Frame: People may request data for research purposes, after data have been collected, cleaned, analyzed and the primary study outcome papers have been published.
• Access Criteria: External parties would be required to complete an online request form, describing the specific datasets required, intended use/analyses, commitment to confidentiality, etc.

Locations

US (1)