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In low-income communities, people often spend 30% of their income on food. These economic realities lead to food choices based on convenience and finding the lowest price. The health outcomes that follow are hardly a mystery. In fact, we already have the statistics and data to show that sweet, salty, and fattening ultra-processed foods lead to many of the food-related chronic diseases crippling healthcare systems not only in low-income communities but across the globe.
In many ways, Food is Medicine’s guiding principles are hardly new. For millennia, humans have been guided by traditional folkways and agricultural practices that yielded healthy plants and animals, which in turn nourished healthy humans.
As much as science may inform medical intervention, successful medical intervention ultimately depends upon supporting healthy changes and, when necessary, shifting behaviors. Food is Medicine connects nutritional science with healthy food habits. Developing and reinforcing those habits requires innovative approaches to patient healthcare, ranging from subsidizing healthy food prescriptions to offering culinary nutrition classes – not just to patients but also to healthcare workers.
Food is Medicine is not a blanket prescription for success, nor is it a one-size-fits-all approach. Food preferences are tightly linked to cultural heritage, lifestyle patterns, shopping options, and culinary skills. Affordability, accessibility, and availability of healthy and culturally appropriate foods also play a critical role in determining prescriptive strategies with the highest likelihood of success. If healthy foods and preparation methods are beyond a patient’s resources or capacities, they are unlikely to adopt or maintain those suggested dietary shifts.
Major dietary changes are often prescribed in “bite-size” portions, providing a gradual transition in shopping, preparation, and eating habits. Education plays a central role in the success of Food is Medicine programs, often involving a diverse set of players who can support the requisite lifestyle changes — healthcare shifts from a predominately doctor-patient relationship to a supportive network of healthcare providers and educators.
Food is Medicine’s place-based approach begins by looking at food access in a community—starting with the availability of fresh produce, for example—then examines the role healthcare providers can play in not only encouraging their patients to change their diets but also changing their shopping behavior. In some cases, it may even include teaching them how to prepare nutritious foods at home.
The affordability, accessibility, and availability of healthy and culturally appropriate foods also play a critical role in determining prescriptive strategies with the highest likelihood of success. If healthy foods and preparation methods are beyond a patient’s resources or capacities, they are unlikely to adopt or maintain these suggested dietary shifts.
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Lexicon of Food is produced by The Lexicon, an international NGO that brings together food companies, government agencies, financial institutions, scientists, entrepreneurs, and food producers from across the globe to tackle some of the most complex challenges facing our food systems.
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The Food is Medicine Channel was developed by an invitation-only food systems solutions activator created by The Lexicon with support from Food at Google. This activator model fosters unprecedented collaborations between leading food service companies, environmental NGOs, government agencies, and technical experts from across the globe.
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