Nutrition Counseling for Hypertension Within a Grocery Store: An Example of the Patient-Centered Medical Neighborhood Model

Abstract Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition counseling for patients with hypertension, provided in a grocery store setting. Design Single-arm pretest–posttest design implementing a 12-week dietary intervention. Setting Grocery store. Participants Thirty adults with hypertension recruited from a primary care practice. Intervention Registered dietitian nutritionists provided counseling based on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet. Main Outcome Measures Dietary intake patterns and Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) scores measured via food-frequency questionnaire. Change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) was a secondary outcome. Analysis Paired t tests were used to test for differences between HEI-2010 scores, intake of key food pattern components, and SBP at baseline compared with follow-up. Statistical significance was established at P ≤ .05. Results Eight HEI-2010 component scores increased significantly from baseline to follow-up (a change toward a more desirable eating pattern): total fruit, whole fruit, greens and beans, whole grains, fatty acids, refined grains, and empty calories. Sodium ( P P P P  = .01), and total fat ( P Conclusions and Implications Grocery store–based counseling for patients with hypertension may be an effective strategy to provide lifestyle counseling that is not typically available within primary care.