FOOD AS MEDICINE: DIGESTIBLE BITES – MAY 2023
The short version:
- A shocking stat: 80% of healthcare dollars are allocated to preventable chronic disease, yet nine out of 10 Americans don’t meet the government’s own recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption!!! Check out the end of this blog post for tips on how to include more fruit in your daily diet!
- In 2020, one in six military and veteran families reported experiencing low food security or hunger.
- The American Heart Association and The Rockefeller Foundation’s vision for their Food is Medicine (FIM) Initiative “is to accelerate a future in which millions of patients receive the benefit of a more holistic approach to diet and health.”
- 27% of disabled people live in poverty (which is 2x the rate in the general population!). Disabled people are struggling to access the food they need to stay healthy with the dramatic increase in food prices and the end of pandemic-era SNAP benefits.
The longer version:
‘Food as medicine’ gains more traction
“Eighty percent of healthcare dollars in this country are allocated to preventable chronic disease, yet nine out of 10 Americans don’t meet the government’s own recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption,” said Cathy Burns, CEO of the International Fresh Produce Association, during a recent Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit. “There is a clear and significant role for food interventions in the healthcare system. “You go to the doctor, you get a diagnosis, and they give you a prescription for fruits and vegetables to treat your condition. Imagine a world where your diagnosis is being treated by what’s on your plate, not by what’s in a pill,” Burns added. “This could be transformational for the trajectory of human health in this country.”
