Helping adolescents in low-income areas get healthy food
Official title: [R01] Prioritizing food systems interventions to reduce adolescents’ nutrition insecurity and malnutrition in low-income settings
Funded at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences · NIH-11181156 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project aims to understand and improve how adolescents in low-income countries can access and afford healthy foods to prevent both undernutrition and obesity.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Newark, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | September 1, 2024 |
| Project end | May 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $504,157 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HD113723-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11181156 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
This project focuses on adolescents aged 12-20 years living in low-income urban settlements, specifically in Nairobi, Kenya.
✕Less likely to help
Patients outside of the targeted adolescent age group or those not living in the specified low-income settings would not directly benefit from this particular intervention.
What this research studies
Many young people in low-income areas struggle to find enough healthy food, which can lead to both not getting enough nutrients and also becoming overweight. This can cause serious health problems later in life. Our work focuses on adolescents because this is a key time to make a difference in their health. We want to learn more about the food systems in their communities and how individual and family factors influence their food choices. By combining community input with data and modeling, we hope to find the best ways to help these young people eat better.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to new strategies and programs that help adolescents in low-income settings achieve better nutrition and overall health.
How similar studies have gone: While the problem of nutrition insecurity is well-known, this project uses an innovative combination of community-based methods, data, and modeling to address it, making its specific approach novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Newark, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Downs, Shauna — Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Downs, Shauna
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.