Data Driven: Why Instacart is Powering New Food as Medicine Research — and How it Can Help Historically Underserved Communities

For the past year, Instacart has been working with some of the nation’s leading academic and research institutions to help study the impact of food as medicine programs on health outcomes and health costs. But there’s still more work to do to uncover enough statistical evidence to truly scale these programs and ensure they reach more patients and families — including those in historically marginalized and underserved communities. 

We’re starting the next phase of that work today by announcing five new food as medicine research projects and partnerships with leaders at some of the nation’s top academic institutions. Each project has a unique focus that will drive new insights about food as medicine interventions, so the entire healthcare ecosystem can better understand the impact of these cutting-edge programs. 

First, we’re teaming up with researchers at The Ohio State University to examine the impact of food as medicine interventions that include access to culturally relevant and home-delivered foods, tailored behavioral counseling, and social needs care coordination for Medicaid-enrolled patients with cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome. The research team will use Instacart Health Fresh Funds (digital, category-specific food stipends) and Virtual Storefronts (where participants can shop from grocery lists curated by health experts) to help power the study.  

We’re also partnering with researchers at the Duke Clinical Research Institute and the Louisiana Public Health Institute to examine how online versus in-store grocery shopping affects food purchasing patterns, consumption patterns and access to healthy food options among patients at risk for cardiovascular disease. The study will use Instacart Health Fresh Funds as one of the stipend models to help inform future potential nutrition incentive programs.

Third, Instacart is proud to be collaborating with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania on a “choice architecture and incentive salience” study that will use Virtual Storefronts to evaluate different approaches to encourage fruit and vegetable purchases among patients with obesity and diabetes. The goal is to glean actionable insights to inform future produce prescription programs and other nutrition interventions for patients at heightened risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Meanwhile, we’re launching a study with researchers at the University of Kentucky and the University of Kentucky Food as Health Alliance — with whom we’ve collaborated on research initiatives in recent years — to study screening, referral, and enrollment techniques for food as medicine programs among adults living in urban and rural communities. Deploying our Fresh Funds tool, the project will focus on identifying ways to increase participant engagement, improve health outcomes, and drive cost efficiencies for food as medicine programs.

The four studies referenced above are among 19 projects recently awarded grant funding through the American Heart Association’s groundbreaking Health Care by Food Initiative, through which the organization is powering research and advocacy to support and scale food as medicine programs that reduce chronic health conditions, curb health care costs, and address health inequities. Instacart has been proud to support the initiative since its launch in April 2023. 

But we’re not stopping there.

In order to encourage and elevate an even wider array of research — and to ensure food as medicine programs ultimately reach and benefit every family, including those in historically underserved communities — we’re also announcing today a new partnership between Instacart and Meharry Medical College’s Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.

Through the partnership, Meharry and Instacart will produce a special supplemental issue of the peer-reviewed journal featuring as many as 20 studies related to food access, nutrition security, and associated health outcomes for individuals in historically marginalized communities — including Black and Hispanic households, urban and rural communities, and families living below the poverty line. We’re grateful to Meharry for their partnership on this important project, and we encourage researchers and practitioners across the country to submit abstracts for consideration. Please click here for more information and to submit a proposal. 

Right now, food as medicine is having a moment. But for that moment to turn into a movement — a movement that reaches every family, and one that closes rather than deepens health inequities — we need more evidence and an even deeper understanding of these promising nutrition programs. We’re proud to be working closely with some of the nation’s top research institutions to meet that challenge, and we look forward to sharing the results. 

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This material may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or Instacart’s future financial or operating performance as well as Instacart’s other expectations, strategies, priorities, plans or intentions. Instacart’s expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize, and actual results in future periods are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, including those more fully described in Instacart’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sarah Fleisch

Sarah Fleisch is the Senior Director of Policy Research & Development at Instacart. In this role, she leads the development of Instacart’s core policy positions and proactive policy agenda. Sarah has a background in workplace policy, with a focus on public policy, job quality and women and the workforce. Prior to Instacart, Sarah worked at the National Partnership for Women & Families, and before that was an associate in the labor and employment practice group of a large D.C. law firm.