Impact of Healthy Food Subsidies on Diet Quality and Food Security

The British Columbia Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Program (FMNCP) provides lower-income households with coupons to purchase healthy foods at farmers' markets. This pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) will examine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of two higher subsidies for healthy food ($54/weeek or $81/week), compared to the usual FMNCP healthy food subsidy ($27/week), on the diet quality (primary outcome), food insecurity, and other health-related outcomes of 276 parent-child dyads with lower incomes. 276 parent-child dyads who are enrolled in the FMNCP will be randomly assigned to one of the three subsidy arms. Participants will receive 16 weeks of coupons that can be redeemed for up to 20 weeks. Outcomes will be assessed in one parent (18-64 years) and child (6-17 years) from each household pre-, mid- and post-intervention.

NCT Number	NCT06992947
Lead Sponsor	University of Calgary Collaborators: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), British Columbia Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Program, BC Association of Farmers' Markets
Conditions	Food Insecurity
Enrollment	538 participants
Start Date	2025-06-07
Primary Completion	2025-12-16 (estimated)
Study Completion	2025-12-16 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-12-31