Cooking Interventions for Improving Diet Quality Among Black Americans: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Area of Science:

• Nutrition Science
• Behavioral Science
• Public Health

Background:

• Non-Hispanic Black Americans face the highest and fastest-increasing obesity rates.
• Effective long-term interventions for improving diet quality in this population are lacking.
• Home cooking is linked to lower body mass index, better diet quality, and improved health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the effect of a cooking instruction intervention on diet quality and cooking behaviors among Black adults in the USA.
• Applied the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to assess changes in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.
• Compared cooking instruction to standard nutrition information.

Main Methods:

• Recruited an online sample of 147 Black Americans (ages 18-76) via Prolific.
• Randomized participants to a cooking tutorial video or a control webpage.
• Measured healthy eating and cooking cognitions and behaviors at baseline, post-intervention, and 1-week follow-up.

Main Results:

• Participants viewing the cooking video showed significantly greater post-intervention intentions to cook (p < .001).
• Cooking intentions positively correlated with subsequent cooking behavior (p < .01).
• Implementation intentions (II) intervention did not significantly affect subsequent-week behavior (ps > .413).

Conclusions:

• Cooking instruction videos present a promising strategy for enhancing nutrition and diet-related health outcomes in Black Americans.
• Interventions should consider and address the prevalent issue of food insecurity in this demographic.
• Future research should explore sustainable and culturally relevant dietary interventions.