Press Release
Instacart Partners with Meharry Medical College, Duke University, Ohio State University, University of Kentucky, and University of Pennsylvania Researchers to Support New Food as Medicine Studies
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — January 29, 2024 – Instacart (NASDAQ: CART), the leading grocery technology company in North America, today announced five research partnerships with leaders at some of the nation’s top academic institutions to support and scale new research on the impacts of food as medicine interventions on health outcomes and costs for various population groups. The projects include:
(1) Instacart is partnering with Meharry Medical College — one of the nation’s oldest and largest historically Black medical colleges and academic health science centers — to produce a special supplemental issue of its peer-reviewed Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. The issue will focus exclusively on research 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.
“It’s important to ensure the growing body of research on food as medicine elevates the full breadth of new studies being conducted and examines the impact for individuals in historically marginalized communities,” said Dr. Beatrice Abiero, senior research lead at Instacart. “Instacart is proud to work with Meharry Medical College’s Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved on this supplemental issue to help cast a light on new research on the potential of nutrition interventions for Black and Hispanic households, urban and rural communities, and families with low incomes.”
(2) Instacart is partnering 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 — which allow participants to shop from medically-tailored grocery lists curated by registered dietitians — to improve nutrition security, cardiovascular health, and advance health equity for study participants.
(3) Instacart is 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.
(4) Instacart is partnering with researchers at the University of Kentucky and the University of Kentucky Food as Health Alliance — with whom the company has previously 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 the Instacart Health Fresh Funds tool, the study will focus on identifying ways to increase participant engagement, improve health outcomes, and drive cost efficiencies for food as medicine programs.
(5) Instacart is partnering with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania on a “choice architecture and incentive salience” study that will use Instacart Health Virtual Storefronts and Fresh Funds to evaluate different approaches to encourage fruit and vegetable purchases among patients with obesity and diabetes. The study’s goal is to derive practical insights to shape future produce prescription programs and other nutrition interventions for patients at heightened risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
“At Instacart, we believe in the power of food as medicine, and we are committed to using our unique technology and reach to support groundbreaking research on food as medicine programs,” said Sarah Fleisch, Senior Director of Policy Research & Development at Instacart. “We’re proud to partner with researchers at these leading academic institutions to uncover the evidence needed to scale food as medicine programs and ensure they reach more patients, families, and communities.”
The latter 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.
These research commitments are part of Instacart’s continued work under its sweeping Instacart Health initiative, launched in 2022 at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Through the initiative, the company is using its technology, partnerships, research, and policy advocacy to fight nutrition insecurity, inspire healthy choices, and scale food as medicine programs.
Today, Instacart partners with more than 1,400 retailers across more than 80,000 stores to reach more than 95% of households across the United States, including 93% of people living in food deserts. The company also now reaches more than 96% of U.S. households enrolled in SNAP, supporting online benefit acceptance from more than 170 retail banners across more than 14,000 stores. Learn more about Instacart Health here.
About Instacart
Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, works with grocers and retailers to transform how people shop. The company partners with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 80,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace. Instacart makes it possible for millions of people to get the groceries they need from the retailers they love, and for approximately 600,000 Instacart shoppers to earn by picking, packing and delivering orders on their own flexible schedule. The Instacart Platform offers retailers a suite of enterprise-grade technology products and services to power their e-commerce experiences, fulfill orders, digitize brick-and-mortar stores, provide advertising services, and glean insights. With Instacart Ads, thousands of CPG brands – from category leaders to emerging brands – partner with the company to connect directly with consumers online, right at the point of purchase. With Instacart Health, the company is providing tools to increase nutrition security, make healthy choices easier for consumers, and expand the role that food can play in improving health outcomes. For more information, visit www.instacart.com/company, and to start shopping, visit www.instacart.com.
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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.