We have known for generations that healthy food is good for you. And when people have access to healthy food, they are more likely to be healthy. It sounds simple, and yet, many in the United States lack access to affordable, nutritious food that would benefit their health. An estimated 90 percent of the $4.3 trillion annual cost of healthcare in the United States is spent on medical care for chronic diseases, and for many of these diseases, diet is a major risk factor. For example, half of all cardiovascular deaths in the United States and more than 70 percent of new type 2 diabetes cases globally are attributable to poor diet, demonstrating the importance of scaling a Food is Medicine approach to food justice. As a result, diet-related diseases cost us a staggering $1.1 trillion per year in health care costs and lost productivity — equal to what the nation spends on food itself.  

Scaling Food is Medicine interventions will help people become more food secure, have healthier diets, and improve clinical outcomes. That’s why, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, the American Heart Association’s Health Care by Food™ initiative is trying to connect patients with access to healthy foods as part of their clinical care, so they can better manage their diet and improve their health. Right now, that means figuring out the best way to integrate Food is Medicine programs into the healthcare system, examining what kinds of healthy food interventions are working for different kinds of patients, and how best to reach them.  

Dr. Kevin Volpp, the scientific lead of Health Care by Food and the director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, is both a primary care clinician and a behavioral economist who has seen firsthand the serious obstacles people face when attempting to alter their eating habits to prioritize future health, showing the importance of scaling Food is Medicine.

“It is one of the biggest behavioral challenges of our time,” he says. “People struggle with eating unhealthy food because that’s what’s most readily available to them.”  

Read the full article about scaling food is medicine data by Sacha Zimmerman at The Rockefeller Foundation.