Nutrition experts urge Congress to promote ‘food is medicine’ movement

Providing nutritious meals to vulnerable people can save lives and control health care costs, experts said at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee hearing on primary health care and retirement security on Tuesday.

“Malnutrition is the number one cause of death and disability in the United States, causing more harm than smoking, alcohol, physical inactivity, and air pollution,” said Darius Mozaffarian, director of the Institute of Food and Medicine at Tufts University in Boston. said the M.D. Ph.D.

In fact, Mozaffarian says, lack of access to healthy food is “literally deadly.” Thousands of Americans know that their diets are contributing to illness, but many feel powerless to fix the problem.

Witness is food teeth That’s because medicines have been proven to provide great benefits to patients with diabetes, depression, pain and other chronic conditions through prescriptions, medically tailored diets and counselling programs.

Erin Martin, MASM, a gerontologist and founder and director of FreshRx Oklahoma, a nonprofit food prescription program, said many healthy food initiatives were born out of necessity.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors in North Tulsa found that even diabetics who were compliant with their medications and medical visits were experiencing a decline in their health. Martin said North Tulsa residents have an average life expectancy that is at least 8.5 years shorter than their South Tulsa counterparts, and the area has been without a grocery store for 14 years.

In 2021, FreshRx Oklahoma launched a pilot program to provide residents with type 2 diabetes with locally grown produce twice a week for 12 months, along with four to six cooking and nutrition classes each month. Program participants also received quarterly health screenings, Martin explained.

Produce will be purchased locally through prepaid debit cards, farmers’ market vouchers and online shopping models.

Of the program’s first 300 participants, 80% saw their A1C drop by an average of 2.2 points, and one participant saw a drop of 8.2 points within six months. Another participant lost 116 pounds and was cured of type 2 diabetes.

Jean Terranova, J.D., senior director of policy and research at Community Servings in Boston, said her organization provides medically customized meals to thousands of people in Massachusetts and neighboring states.

As part of these services, a dietitian will assess each participant’s health, dietary needs, food availability, and ability to live independently. Each week, participants receive meals for themselves and their families from 16 meal plans, plus snacks such as fresh fruit, yogurt and milk, as well as nutrition education and counseling.

One participant, a 66-year-old man named Chuck, lost 50 pounds and avoided having his leg amputated after undergoing a heart-diabetic diet through the program.

2019 Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association Research on this program showed a 16% reduction in total health care costs due to fewer emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and emergency transfers.

When asked about the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists and how they fit in with nutrition, Mozaffarian, chairman of the HELP Committee, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. cited the report. If GLP-1 agonists actually took them, the United States would double its national spending on all prescription drugs combined.

“Despite the effectiveness of these drugs, we cannot afford them. So, we need to integrate nutrition, ‘food is medicine’ and lifestyle along with GLP-1 so that we can mitigate the losses,” he added.

Terranova told the subcommittee chairman, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and lead director, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), that they and other senators had submitted He expressed his gratitude for the bill. The bill would require federal agencies to publish nutrition best practices, expand access to medically sensitive meals through community health centers, and provide healthy meals to seniors.

In terms of legislative action, Mr. Terranova asked Congress to increase funding to the NIH to study the benefits of personalized diets, and Mr. Martin asked the HELP Committee to extend the Prescription Produce Program to the federal They requested that it be integrated into health programs.

Mozaffarian encouraged Congress to support “meaningful funding” for the NIH to launch Food is Medicine Centers of Excellence and work with national accrediting and accrediting bodies responsible for medical education to “ He called for “meaningful nutritional education for the benefit of all.”

Finally, Mozaffarian noted that while the U.S. will never get rid of processed and packaged foods, there are ways to make them healthier. He hopes that as the “food is medicine” mindset takes hold, incentives for how food is produced will change.

“Right now we’re putting money into health care and taking money away from all other priorities,” he said. “If we put some money into food, we can reverse that cycle and make food healthier.”