Nutrition Counseling for Hypertension Within a Grocery Store: An Example of the Patient-Centered Medical Neighborhood Model

Objective

To evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition counseling for patients with hypertension, provided in a grocery store setting.

Design

Single-arm pretest–posttest design implementing a 12-week dietary intervention.

Setting

Grocery store.

Participants

Thirty adults with hypertension recruited from a primary care practice.

Intervention

Registered dietitian nutritionists provided counseling based on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet.

Main Outcome Measures

Dietary intake patterns and Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) scores measured via food-frequency questionnaire. Change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) was a secondary outcome.

Analysis

Paired t tests were used to test for differences between HEI-2010 scores, intake of key food pattern components, and SBP at baseline compared with follow-up. Statistical significance was established at P ≤ .05.

Results

Eight HEI-2010 component scores increased significantly from baseline to follow-up (a change toward a more desirable eating pattern): total fruit, whole fruit, greens and beans, whole grains, fatty acids, refined grains, and empty calories. Sodium (P < .001), saturated fat (P < .001), discretionary solid fat (P < .001), added sugars (P?=?.01), and total fat (P < .001) all decreased significantly. The change in SBP was not significant.

Conclusions and Implications

Grocery store–based counseling for patients with hypertension may be an effective strategy to provide lifestyle counseling that is not typically available within primary care.