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

NCT05499858 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: USUHS- 2022-105
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 400
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

"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."

Conditions

Dietary Intake

Keywords

Military; Vegetable intake; Food photography

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Vegetable consumption

  Volunteers will provided with a heat and serve meal kit. Using the food photography mobile application (SmartIntake), volunteers will take a single photo of the meal kit after they have consumed a self-determined desired amount of food. The digital photo will be sent to Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC) for analysis via the SmartIntake app. The team at PBRC will download the image and use a validated algorithm to estimate, in cups, the remaining vegetable component from the meal kit.

  Volunteers will be provided with a series of heat and serve meal kits over approximately 2 month time period.

• Phase I - Primary Outcome: United States Military - Menu Item Survey

  Overall liking of menu item, specific ratings of the appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, and overall appeal of the menu item, and qualitative feedback on general impressions of the menu item

  Volunteers will be provided with a series of 8 recipes to evaluate over the course of a single taste testing session through study completion, an average of 1 year.

Study Arms (1)

Vegetables

OTHER

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

Other: Spiced; Other: Plain

Interventions

Spiced OTHER

Vegetables provided to volunteers will be spiced.

Vegetables

Plain OTHER

Vegetables provided to volunteers will be plain.

Vegetables

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Junior Service Member (E1-E4 or O1-O3)
• Read and write English

You may not qualify if:

• Anyone under 18 years of age
• Anyone not in the U.S. military

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences: lead
• University of Maryland, Baltimore: collaborator
• Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine: collaborator
• Pennington Biomedical Research Center: collaborator
• McCormick Science Institute: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Naval Support Activity Bethesda

Bethesda, Maryland, 20814, United States

Location

Related Publications (3)

• D'Adamo CR, McArdle PF, Balick L, Peisach E, Ferguson T, Diehl A, Bustad K, Bowden B, Pierce BA, Berman BM. Spice MyPlate: Nutrition Education Focusing Upon Spices and Herbs Improved Diet Quality and Attitudes Among Urban High School Students. Am J Health Promot. 2016 May;30(5):346-56. doi: 10.1177/0890117116646333.

  PMID: 27404643 BACKGROUND

• Pierce B, Bowden B, McCullagh M, Diehl A, Chissell Z, Rodriguez R, Berman BM, D Adamo CR. A Summer Health Program for African-American High School Students in Baltimore, Maryland: Community Partnership for Integrative Health. Explore (NY). 2017 May-Jun;13(3):186-197. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2017.02.002. Epub 2017 Feb 24.

  PMID: 28373062 BACKGROUND

• D'Adamo CR, Parker EA, McArdle PF, Trilling A, Bowden B, Bahr-Robertson MK, Keller KL, Berman BM. The addition of spices and herbs to vegetables in the National School Lunch Program increased vegetable intake at an urban, economically-underserved, and predominantly African-American high school. Food Qual Prefer. 2021 Mar;88:104076. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2020.104076. Epub 2020 Sep 1.

  PMID: 32999533 BACKGROUND

Study Officials

• Chris D'Adamo, PhD

  Assistant Professor

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: FED
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 9, 2022
• First Posted: August 12, 2022
• Study Start: November 6, 2022
• Primary Completion: July 30, 2024
• Study Completion: December 31, 2024
• Last Updated: August 22, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)