An interventional study of Natural Environment/Stress Management and Natural Environment/Reduce Food Waste in Food Habits, sponsored by Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-01-24.
Sponsored by Pennington Biomedical Research Center · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
The purpose of this study is to test the use of a smartphone app as a way to measure food waste.
Investigators propose to improve the accuracy and convenience of household food waste measurement so that consumer food waste program evaluations yield more power, less bias, less measurement error, and greater representation of targeted populations.
Investigators will improve measurement via the development of the FoodImage smartphone app, a technology leveraging the investigators' expertise in creating and deploying apps to measure food intake and deliver nutritional interventions in free-living household conditions. Investigators will validate the app against weighed waste in a controlled laboratory setting.
The study will yield an app ready for future study deployment while analyses of the data will inform rapidly evolving policy discussions concerning optimal approaches to reduce food waste. These outcomes align with program priorities to understand the economics of food waste and to use behavioral economics to address consumption behavior.
Specific objectives include:
Exclusion Criteria:
In addition to those who do not meet inclusion criteria, subjects who meet any of the following criteria will be excluded from enrollment:
In a laboratory kitchen, participants will use the following 3 methods to record and measure food waste during simulated shopping trip and kitchen clean-outs: the FoodImage App, Pen-and-paper Records, and Pen-and-paper records with a scale. Measurements will be collected by participants with all three methods, while lab personnel directly weigh foods to provide the criterion value.
Participants will use the FoodImage app to capture data on food purchases, food waste that occurs during food preparation, food waste that is present after eating, and food waste from food purges in free-living conditions. Participants will capture baseline data for 4-7 days. After a 1-week break, participants will use the app to record food waste for approximately 4-7 days over the subsequent week. They will also receive information on stress management
Other: Natural Environment/Stress Management
Phase 2 will occur in participants' natural environment (free-living conditions). Participants will use the FoodImage app to capture data on food purchases, food waste that occurs during food preparation, food waste that is present after eating, and food waste from food purges. Participants will use the app to record food waste for approximately 4-7 days over the subsequent week. They will also be provided with the following: 1. Feedback on the amount of food waste their household created during the first week, 2. A goal to reduce the next week's food waste by 20% or more, and 3. Tips on how to reduce household food waste adapted from current consumer campaigns
Behavioral: Natural Environment/Reduce Food Waste
Participants will use the FoodImage app to capture data on food purchases, food waste that occurs during food preparation, food waste that is present after eating, and food waste from food purges in free-living conditions. Participants will capture baseline data for 4-7 days. After a 1-week break, participants will use the app to record food waste for approximately 4-7 days over the subsequent week. They will also receive information on stress management
Participants will use the FoodImage app to capture data on food purchases, food waste that occurs during food preparation, food waste that is present after eating, and food waste from food purges in free-living conditions. Participants will use the app to record food waste for approximately 4-7 days over the subsequent week. They will also be provided with the following: 1. Feedback on the amount of food waste their household created during the first week, 2. A goal to reduce the next week's food waste by 20% or more, and 3. Tips on how to reduce household food waste adapted from current consumer campaigns
Phase 1: Food Waste Error
Participant estimations of food waste using the following three experimental methods as compared to the criterion value of weighed waste collected by study staff: 1) the FoodImage App (FoodImage app estimates minus the criterion value of lab personnel measured weighed food waste), 2) pen and paper diary with visual estimation of food amounts (pen and paper estimates minus the criterion value), and 3) pen and paper diary with a scale (pen and paper dairy accompanied by a scale minus directly weighed foods by lab personnel). All food values are in grams. The error values noted here represent less accurate estimates the further away they are from zero, either in the positive or negative direction. There are no min and max values to error measures.
Time frame: Visit 1
Phase 2: Weight of All Household Waste
Difference in change in total weight of all sources of household food waste.
Time frame: Baseline to Day 14
| Milestone | Phase 2: RCT Stress Management | Phase 2: RCT Food Waste Reduction |
|---|---|---|
| Started | 23 | 19 |
| Completed | 22 | 18 |
| Not completed | 1 | 1 |
Participant estimations of food waste using the following three experimental methods as compared to the criterion value of weighed waste collected by study staff: 1) the FoodImage App (FoodImage app estimates minus the criterion value of lab personnel measured weighed food waste), 2) pen and paper diary with visual estimation of food amounts (pen and paper estimates minus the criterion value), and 3) pen and paper diary with a scale (pen and paper dairy accompanied by a scale minus directly weighed foods by lab personnel). All food values are in grams. The error values noted here represent less accurate estimates the further away they are from zero, either in the positive or negative direction. There are no min and max values to error measures.
| grams | FoodImage App | Diary: Visual Estimation | Diary With a Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Food Waste Error | -16.25 ± 84.72 | 31.34 ± 134.80 | 20553.6 ± 111,151 |
Difference in change in total weight of all sources of household food waste.
| grams | Phase 2: RCT Stress Management | Phase 2: RCT Food Waste Reduction |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 2: Weight of All Household Waste | -232.65 ± 289.44 | -325.05 ± 319.99 |
Collected over 4 hours. Non-serious events are listed at a 0% frequency threshold.
| Group | Deaths | Serious | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Participants | 0/40 (0%) | 0/40 (0%) | 0/40 (0%) |
Includes individuals recruited to participate, screened for eligibility, and measured at baseline. Arms/Groups are combined because baseline measures were collected prior to randomization.
| Age, Continuous(years) | All Participants |
|---|---|
| Mean | 36.3 (18 to 63) |
| Sex: Female, Male(Participants) | All Participants |
|---|---|
| Female | 38 |
| Male | 4 |
| Race (NIH/OMB)(Participants) | All Participants |
|---|---|
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 0 |
| Asian | 2 |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0 |
| Black or African American | 8 |
| White | 30 |
| More than one race | 0 |
| Unknown or Not Reported | 2 |
| Avoidable waste(grams/week) | All Participants |
|---|---|
| Mean | 741.5 ± 984.4 |
Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.
Plan to share: No
This study is completed, as verified in Dec 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Pennington Biomedical Research Center