Free meals or produce may cut heart failure readmissions
NCT ID NCT06115369
First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study looked at whether giving heart failure patients either medically tailored meals or fresh produce boxes after a hospital stay could improve their health and reduce return visits to the hospital. 150 adults who had been hospitalized for heart failure were randomly assigned to receive food supplements, sometimes only if they kept doctor appointments and took their medications. The goal was to see if food support, especially when tied to healthcare engagement, could lower emergency visits and readmissions.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- medically tailored meals or fresh produce boxes
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could show that providing healthy food, especially when tied to healthcare engagement, reduces hospital readmissions for heart failure patients.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, completed study with 150 participants, so results may not apply broadly. The intervention is short-term (90 days) and may not have lasting effects.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
-
150 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
-
Apr 2024
- Finished
-
Oct 2025
- Lead sponsor
-
Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
-
18 to 100 years
- Sex
-
Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Adults over 18 years age with a recent hospitalization for acute decompensated HF Exclusion Criteria: * Baseline hyperkalemia with K \> 5.5 mEq/L or history of hyperkalemia requiring hospitalization for urgent treatment, * Receipt of a heart transplant or left ventricular assist device, * Use of inotropic therapy at hospital discharge, * Discharge to a skilled nursing facility or long-term care facility that provides prepared patient meals, comorbidity with expected survival \< 6 months, and * Inability to provide an address to receive produce shipments (including unhoused individuals or individuals residing in temporary housing shelters). * Pregnancy
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Heart failure are added.
Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, Texas, 75235, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Can an inhaler boost heart pumping in COPD patients?
- Can zapping the heart beat drugs for AF in heart failure?
- Which SGLT2 inhibitor wins? trial pits empagliflozin against dapagliflozin
- Can daily mindful breathing ease heart failure symptoms?
- Can a smartphone app keep heart failure patients out of the hospital?
- Can better training get doctors to talk about what matters most to dying veterans?