UB researcher works to close the food gap

Early on in her research on food access and nutrition security, Lucia Leone came to the realization that closing the food gap isn’t simply about providing access. There are numerous ways for people to receive food. It’s what they do with it afterward that can make all the difference.

Ever since, Leone has been on a quest to develop programs that help people get the most out of the food they receive, whether that be from a mobile produce market, a food pantry or a food prescription program.

“I’m a firm believer that if we can get people to eat the healthy food, they will be healthier. I don’t think we need another research study to show that,” Leone, associate professor of community health and health behavior, School of Public Health and Health Professions, says in the latest episode of the UB Driven to Discover podcast. “But how do we get them to get that food prepared and eat it? How do we implement programs that people want to use?”

Leone, who directs the Community Health Interventions Lab at UB, discusses community-based interventions like mobile produce vans and food prescription programs, and what her research reveals about why some efforts succeed while others fall short.

The podcast is available on all major platforms, including Apple, Spotify and YouTube.

In this episode, Leone reflects on the impact her childhood had on her decision to study nutrition, and her desire to apply her research toward helping families who faced similar situations as hers. Leone’s mom didn’t have a car, so getting to the grocery store was difficult, and Leone often had to get creative in between those bigger shopping trips.

She would go to friends’ houses after school and have pantry envy. “I remember complaining to my mom one time,” Leone says, “‘Why don’t we have all the good snacks that my friends have?’ And she said, ‘I don’t buy food for snacks. I buy food to make meals.’”

The words have stuck with Leone. So, too, did a book her mom gave her when she was about 10 or 12 years old, called “How to Stay Alive and Well in the Fast Food Lane.” It became Leone’s Bible.

Leone explains the importance of the distinction between “food insecurity” and her preferred term, “nutrition security.” She also discusses how rampant the problem is among certain groups in the United States, and talks about the key findings of community-based research interventions she’s led, including the Veggie Van study and, one of her latest projects, a “food is medicine” program in collaboration with Erie County Medical Center in which senior citizens were provided with home-delivered food prescriptions.

The program highlighted the importance of using high-quality food from local farmers and producers.

Leone also challenges misconceptions about SNAP and the people it serves, particularly the idea that people waste their benefits on junk food.

“I always have come from a perspective that people generally know what’s healthy,” she says, “and that they may just need the support, the education [and] the skills to be able to implement that.”