When food isn't medicine - A challenge for physicians and health systems

Abstract

Food can be powerful medicine. Good nutrition helps promote health and prevent and treat disease. Yet nutrition is not often part of a physician's training or clinical practice. Food might not be medicine when it's importance is under-recognized and healthful eating is under-prescribed. Moreover, food cannot be medicine when it is not available to patients (or when available only in the form of unhealthful fare). This paper considers evolving thinking about when food isn't medicine by chronicling the experience of one physician—from college coursework to providing patient care and conducting research. The paper is framed around the experience of a representative patient struggling with diet-related chronic conditions, and describes some community-focused initiatives to help address issues related to food access in challenged communities. A principal focus is the over-abundance of foods from ‘plants’ (the industrial processing kind) and the low availability of food from ‘plants’ (the living botanical kind). Physicians and health systems can support access to healthier food and healthier eating, and the idea of food as medicine, through a variety of approaches that extend beyond hospital and clinic walls. Examples of such physician and health-system approaches are provided.

Study about Food Choice Determinants According to Six Types of Conditioning Motivations in a Sample of 11,960 Participants

“…However, if we look in more detail to the questions validated (Q1.1: “I am very concerned about the hygiene and safety of the food I eat”, Q1.4: “It is important for me that my daily diet contains a lot of vitamins and minerals”, Q1.8: “It is important for me to eat food that keeps me healthy”), we see that they all focus on health as a general concern, indicating that the participants look upon health more as a general concept than as individual contributions or pathologies. This is expected, since a great deal of scientific evidence has been collected about the close relations between food intake and health status [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. Another factor that may contribute to the importance attributed to some health issues is associated with gender differences.…”

Food insecurity screening: A missing piece in cancer management

“…[1][2][3] In 2017, approximately 11.8% of US households were food insecure. [1][2][3] In 2017, approximately 11.8% of US households were food insecure.…”

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INTRODUCTIONFood insecurity remains an underrecognized social determinant of health. [1][2][3] In 2017, approximately 11.8% of US households were food insecure. These households included approximately 40 million individuals.

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Implementation of Food is Medicine Programs in Healthcare Settings: A Narrative Review

“…As national conversations about the financial sustainability of FIM programs ensue, the capacity and best-practice workflow of the healthcare organizations involved should be considered. It would be remiss not to mention concerns about overmedicalization of access to healthy food, 72 given the lack of universal access to healthcare and overburdened US healthcare systems. FIM programs are meant to support acute or shortterm healthy food access, whereas sustainable, systemic, and equitable access to healthy food must also be addressed outside of healthcare settings to be more holistic and sustainable.…”