A total of 100 men (> 30 years, living alone) with a low SES will be randomly assigned to a control or intervention group while controlling for food bank use. The intervention group will receive free fresh fruits and vegetables consisting of 2 daily portions of their favorite variety over a period of 4 weeks which will be provided to them once per week.~All participants will be asked to fill out a demographic questionnaire as well as a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), a questionnaire on variety of fruits and vegetables consumed and a 24-h-food-recall questionnaire. All questionnaires will be administered by trained interviewers. During the study period, the 24h-food recall questionnaire will be administered four more times; two times before the 4-week intervention period and two times after the intervention period. After the 4-week intervention period, interviewers will administered the FFQ and the questionnaire on variety.~Participants assigned to the control group will receive a fruit and vegetable basket after 4 weeks after baseline.~All participants will receive gift certificates for local supermarkets in the amount of 35,00 €.
The study aims to investigate whether the provision of free fresh fruits and vegetables to middle-aged men at risk of poverty increases their fruit and vegetable intake over a period of 4 weeks.