Treating food as medicine in policymaking will save hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars, said Dariush Mozaffarian of the Friedman School.
Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, spoke before a United States Senate committee on Tuesday afternoon, May 21, to argue for swift congressional action to food fortification is medicine (FIM) initiative across the country.
The food-is-medicine approach focuses on using nutrition, through actual food, to prevent, treat and manage disease, he explained to the Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security. This can include medically tailored meals and recipes for produce, nutrition education for doctors, and more.
“Food is medicine can improve health and save money. There is almost nothing in health care that can do both of those things,” said Mozaffarian, who is the Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School, where he was dean for eight years. He is also a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. “It’s time for congressional action to help bring food is medicine to the American people.”
Food is medicine recommendations
In his testimony before the Senate, Dariush Mozaffarian recommended specific actions for Congress, including:
- Strengthen funding for the National Institutes of Health, especially for initiatives related to FIM and nutrition research
- Support the continuation of FIM pilot programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service
- Launch of FIM programs for military personnel and their families
- Expand support for product recipes; Providing proper nutrition education for doctors; support the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services in expediting food and nutrition safety screening and clinical care and referral pathways
- Ensure that individuals’ health savings accounts can be used for FIM-accepted therapies
Measurable health benefits
Poor nutrition, Mozaffarian told senators, is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States, with the typical American diet — high in refined starches, sugar, salt and other additives and low in fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans , full. grains, seafood, and yogurt—causing about 10,000 deaths, 1,500 new cases of cancer, and 16,000 new cases of diabetes each week.
“In the course of any given year, I see and talk to thousands of Americans who know in their gut that our food is making them sick, and yet feel powerless to do anything about it. This inability to eat well is about deadly words,” Mozaffarian said.
Food-is-medicine treatments have been shown to improve blood pressure, mental health and disease self-management, and reduce body mass index and the potential for complications from diabetes, he said.
Cost saving power
Such treatments can also save money compared to other common medical interventions, Mozaffarian noted, especially when targeted at high-risk patients with complex medical conditions.
In an analysis he contributed to with Friedman School colleagues, one state’s medically adjusted nutrition program resulted in net annual savings of $9,000 per patient treated, even after accounting for program costs.
Based on his research, he also estimated that about 6 million Americans qualify for medically adjusted meals and that providing them would save nearly $14 billion annually.
Read more at Tufts Now
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