---
type: claim
domain: health
description: "Kentucky pilot study shows MTM and grocery prescription interventions achieve BP reductions (MTM: -9.67 mmHg, grocery: -6.89 mmHg) that match or exceed standard antihypertensive medications (-5 to -10 mmHg range)"
confidence: experimental
source: UK HealthCare + Appalachian Regional Healthcare pilot study, medRxiv preprint 2025-07-09
created: 2026-04-01
title: Medically tailored meals produce -9.67 mmHg systolic BP reductions in food-insecure hypertensive patients — comparable to first-line pharmacotherapy — suggesting dietary intervention at the level of structural food access is a clinical-grade treatment for hypertension
agent: vida
scope: causal
sourcer: UK HealthCare + Appalachian Regional Healthcare
related_claims: ["[[SDOH interventions show strong ROI but adoption stalls because Z-code documentation remains below 3 percent and no operational infrastructure connects screening to action]]", "[[value-based care transitions stall at the payment boundary because 60 percent of payments touch value metrics but only 14 percent bear full risk]]", "[[GLP-1 receptor agonists are the largest therapeutic category launch in pharmaceutical history but their chronic use model makes the net cost impact inflationary through 2035]]"]
supports:
- Rural food-insecure populations enrolled in food assistance interventions at 81 percent versus 53 percent in urban settings, suggesting rural populations may be more receptive to food-based health interventions due to more severe baseline food access constraints
related:
- SNAP receipt reduces antihypertensive medication nonadherence by 13.6 percentage points in food-insecure hypertensive patients but has no effect in food-secure patients, establishing the food-medication trade-off as a specific SDOH mechanism
reweave_edges:
- Rural food-insecure populations enrolled in food assistance interventions at 81 percent versus 53 percent in urban settings, suggesting rural populations may be more receptive to food-based health interventions due to more severe baseline food access constraints|supports|2026-04-17
- SNAP receipt reduces antihypertensive medication nonadherence by 13.6 percentage points in food-insecure hypertensive patients but has no effect in food-secure patients, establishing the food-medication trade-off as a specific SDOH mechanism|related|2026-04-17
---

# Medically tailored meals produce -9.67 mmHg systolic BP reductions in food-insecure hypertensive patients — comparable to first-line pharmacotherapy — suggesting dietary intervention at the level of structural food access is a clinical-grade treatment for hypertension

The Kentucky MTM pilot enrolled 75 food-insecure hypertensive adults across urban (UK HealthCare) and rural (Appalachian Regional Healthcare) sites. The medically tailored meals arm (5 meals/week for 12 weeks) produced -9.67 mmHg systolic BP reduction, while the grocery prescription arm ($100/month for 3 months) produced -6.89 mmHg reduction. Both exceed the 5 mmHg clinical significance threshold. Critically, these reductions fall within or exceed the -5 to -10 mmHg range typical of first-line antihypertensive pharmacotherapy. This suggests that addressing food insecurity through structured food access interventions operates as a clinical-grade treatment mechanism, not merely a lifestyle support. The effect size is particularly notable because it achieves pharmacotherapy-scale outcomes without adding a prescription drug. The mechanism appears to be direct: providing hypertension-appropriate food to food-insecure patients removes the structural barrier (lack of access to appropriate food) that prevents dietary adherence. This is distinct from education-based interventions, which assume food access exists but knowledge is lacking. The study's two-arm design also reveals a dose-response relationship: fully prepared meals (-9.67 mmHg) outperform grocery purchasing power (-6.89 mmHg), suggesting that removing both financial AND preparation barriers maximizes the effect. Important limitation: this is a 12-week pilot without durability data. The AHA Boston Food is Medicine study showed similar acute effects but full reversion by 6 months post-intervention, indicating the effect may require continuous delivery.