Association of Home-Delivered Meals on Daily Energy and Nutrient Intakes: Findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys

This study examines the impact of a home-delivered meal program on daily energy and nutrient intakes using nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003–2012 waves. First-difference estimator addressed selection bias by using within-individual variations in diet and service use status between two nonconsecutive 24-hour dietary recalls among 145 home-delivered meal service users. Service use was found to be associated with a net increase in daily intake of protein by 8.39 g, fiber 3.39 g, calcium 145.94 mg, copper 0.16 mg, magnesium 45.37 mg, potassium 317.39 mg, selenium 14.04 mcg, and sodium 327.52 mg; whereas the effects on daily intake of total energy, fat, and vitamin D were not statistically significant. Home-delivered meals improve nutrient intakes among participants, but currently the program may be too limited in scale and capacity to best capitalize its beneficial impact on healthy aging and health care cost containment at the national level.