Show 1459: Food Is Medicine: Should Your Doctor Be Prescribing Produce? from the archives

One of the most basic pillars of health is good nutrition. A range of eating patterns might all be considered balanced diets, but in general people do better when they eat less processed foods and more whole foods. Vegetables and fruits play a starring role in at least two diets that have been studied extensively, the DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet. Americans might be healthier if we followed these eating plans, but fresh veggies can be pricey. If your doctor were prescribing produce, would your insurance plan cover it? Might this make healthful eating more of a practical possibility?

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Food Is Medicine

Increasingly, healthcare providers are recognizing the critical role of diet in the development of chronic disease. An entire movement is organizing around the concept of Food Is Medicine, both for prevention and for treatment of conditions like diabetes, obesity and heart failure. Scientists have shown that diet makes a difference. Studies have confirmed what many of our grandparents or great-grandparents intuited. On the other hand, translating that knowledge into action that benefits patients has been difficult. One important barrier is the cost of groceries. Our interview with Peter Skillern and Dr. Seth Berkowitz focused on access to fresh fruits and vegetables for lower-income people in North Carolina. Since we spoke with them, we read about an intriguing effort to provide culturally and medically appropriate food for heart failure patients in Navajo Nation.

Traditional Foods for Better Heart Health

Food insecurity goes