June 2, 2022 – The concept that food serves as medicine is hundreds of years old, so it is smart that programs based on this idea exist already. Most fall into two categories: recipes and medically tailored meals. Both are gaining traction as more research supports their effectiveness.
Create recipes are exactly what they sound like: coupons or cards from a health care provider that help you buy fresh produce. However, not everyone can get them – they're geared toward individuals with diet-related diseases resembling diabetes, obesity and hypertension, or those that are food insecure and should be more prone to suffer from these diseases. With greater access to nutritious products, advocates say, their need for costly health treatments will decrease. While these programs have gotten more widespread, funding is usually limited and short-term.
- The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) is a U.S. Department of Agriculture program designed to extend fruit and vegetable consumption for low-income people. Funded by the 2018 Farm Bill, it offers three forms of grants for local groups to explore opportunities. One of the three types: Fruit and vegetable prescriptions. The goal of those grants is to cut back doctor visits and lower health care costs. GusNIP fruit and vegetable prescription trials are scheduled to be in 19 states by 2023. Click here for more information about existing programs.
- According to the National Produce Prescription Collaborative, a coalition of practitioners, researchers and stakeholders, 38 states have already got some sort of produce prescription program.
- Health organizations are also getting involved in this concept. In Pennsylvania, Geisinger has “Fresh food pharmacy“centers in three hospitals. They provide diabetics with special food. And in Southern California, Kaiser Permanente is recruiting 400 diabetics for a randomized controlled trial.
- On the retailer side, regulations on fruits and vegetables are becoming so common that the National Grocers Association has set up a website to help stores handle them.
Medically coordinated meals Programs provide prepared, ready-to-eat meals to patients who live at home but are too sick to cook for themselves. The “tailored” portion is handled by a registered dietitian who creates a meal plan tailored to each patient's specific needs. The plans are designed to improve health, reduce treatment costs and keep patients comfortable.
- Eight states, including New York and California, already cover the cost of medically coordinated meals for Medicaid patients under certain circumstances.
- The Food Is Medicine Coalition, a group of nonprofits focused on medical foods and nutrition, is conducting two dozen studies across the country to examine the effects of medically tailored meals.
- In September, Democratic U.S. Representative Jim McGovern (MA) and several co-sponsors introduced the Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Demonstration Pilot Act of 2021. It calls for a three-year pilot program to provide medically tailored meals to recently hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries with conditions such as heart failure, diabetes and kidney disease.
- In the private sector, several companies are developing programs. For example, Epicured offers chef-prepared meals that follow the low-FODMAP diet, which reduces certain types of carbohydrates that are difficult for people to digest, as well as gluten-free meals. They partner with Mount Sinai Health System, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and other healthcare facilities. And the California-based prepared meal company Every tablewhich TheNew York Times dubbed “the Amazon of quinoa bowls,” is launching its own medically tailored meal program.