“We grow the best medicine in the world.”
It’s a sentiment that is so important to Western Growers that it is core to the company’s philosophy. Now there are burgeoning initiatives to make this case on a federal level.
Few would dispute that the average American diet is leading to illness; the research cascades like a winning game of solitaire. Diet-related disease is one of the biggest threats to health, resulting in both disability and death in the United States. Illnesses like heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension and some cancers have all been connected to diet. According to one report, “poor health arising from poor nutrition…costs the US economy $1.1 trillion each year and is a leading cause of mortality.” (Food Is Medicine Movement—Key Actions Inside and Outside the Government, Sara N. Bleich, PhD, et al.) In one cohort study, researchers found that five servings of fruit and vegetables a day noted a significant inverse relationship with cardiovascular mortality. (Shared Decision-Making in Cardiovascular Risk Factor Management, Sabrina Elias, PhD, MSN, RN, et al.)
But like most large-scale challenges, finding and implementing a solution is far more difficult than identifying the problem. One of those key challenges is ensuring healthy food reaches people who have the hardest time getting access to it.
In a report published by Tufts University titled True Cost of Food: Food is Medicine Case Study, which was created with support of The Rockefeller Foundation’s Food is Medicine initiative, authors present “Food is Medicine (FIM) interventions, which are food-based nutritional interventions that aim to treat or prevent disease, show tremendous promise for improving nutrition, reducing food insecurity, improving health outcomes, and increasing health equity.”
Another case study examined by Tufts was Produce Prescription Programs: Health and Economic Impacts. This study looked to estimate the benefits of a health care produce prescription program for individuals with diabetes and food insecurity. The study projects that “among 6.5 million eligible recipients, provision of produce prescriptions over a lifetime would prevent 292,000 cardiovascular disease events and generate 260,000 quality-adjusted life-years.”
Some government organizations are beginning to roll out programs to deliver on the potential of this promise. The Biden-Harris Administration National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health supports legislation to “create a pilot to test covering medically tailored meals for individuals in traditional Medicare who are experiencing diet-related health conditions.”
Another is through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veteran Health Administration, which operates the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States, providing healthcare services to eligible military veterans at VA medical centers and outpatient clinics located throughout the country. Through the VHA Food Security Office, the VA “supports Veteran comprehensive health and wellbeing by ensuring food security…[and] provide resources to VA healthcare systems through partnerships, data management, and research and education to support an interdisciplinary approach to ensure Veteran food security to create an environment where all Veterans are food and nutrition secure.”
In partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, the VA is piloting a produce prescription program in VA healthcare systems in Salt Lake City and Houston to support veterans who are food insecure and have diet-related health conditions. The pilot program offers enrolled veterans a $100 prepaid debit card with parameters limited to fruit and vegetables each month for up to one year. Veterans enrolled in this pilot program received assistance with meal planning, recipe ideas, shopping on a budget, and other valuable nutrition resources to help veterans achieve their health goals. According to the VA, University of Utah researchers will evaluate the project’s impacts on health, healthcare costs, utilization, wellbeing measures and participant satisfaction. Lessons and data garnered through these pilot projects will help to inform the development of more impactful policies and program design to scale the reach of Food is Medicine as a benefit for Veterans across the VA health care system.” In a panel discussion titled “Food is Medicine: How Food is the Future of Healthcare” that took place at 2024 South by Southwest event, Dr. Christine Going, senior advisor for the VHA Food Security Office, Roy Steiner, senior vice president for the Food Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation; Dr. Kevin Volpp, director of the Penn Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics and Scientific Lead, Food is Medicine Initiative for the American Heart Association; and Wesley Daniel, United States Navy Veteran (retired) discussed the need and value of this program and programs like it.
Daniel discussed his experience with the program: “This thing has worked. It has propped me up tremendously.” Daniel shared that he had been in and out of homeless shelters due to illness and injury that made it difficult and then impossible to work. He was unable to walk and needed knee surgery. “Surgeon said, ‘Sorry, buddy, you’re 9.1 A1c… You’re not going to have surgery for 12 months.’” ‘Doc, I can’t walk. I can’t work.’” It was a nurse at the VA who connected him to a nutritionist and the Food is Medicine program, which included conference calls, cooking classes and financial support. “In 90 days on the program,” Daniel shared, “I went from 9.1 to 6.5.” Because of his success, he got surgery on his knee. Even though he was still recovering during the panel, he walked onto the stage.
The program’s results will be available to support the argument for other programs like it to prescribe food as healthcare. Dr. Going stated that anyone can use their research to prove this point. “If we can figure out the model that works best in the VA, then our data can be used to argue that food is indeed health care and should be treated as such,” she said.
The VA does not have the authority to pay for food that goes into its food hubs, so it leans on its partners, such as the Rockefeller Foundation, to purchase food for its food security initiatives.
Growers are also working to advance the Food is Medicine movement. Steve Brazeel, Founder and CEO of SunTerra Produce, started Project Food Box during the pandemic. The program has since evolved into medically tailored food boxes for MediCal.
Growers know that their product provides health benefits. Making the case to implement resources to ensure that people have access to healthy food with government support is a process to realize a solution. Efforts like the VA’s are gearing up to make that happen, but the goal still requires momentum.
But one thing is undeniable: you can’t have food as a prescription without growers. These programs are an opportunity to strengthen the mutually beneficial system of creating a greater demand for grower products and supporting the health of the population.
No one can buy time, but actions like healthy eating can be a way to invest in the potential payout of more of it. There are ways to ensure equitable distribution of this wealth. Growers are a key component in supplying the tools to get there and are an important component of the chain required to share these health benefits. The systems are beginning to take form, but there is still plenty to do to make it a reality for more people.
