Food as Medicine: A Breakthrough Study Reveals How Healthy Food Delivery Transforms Health

Imagine a world where your healthcare prescription doesn't just include medication, but also a weekly delivery of delicious, healthy food tailored to your needs. This isn't a futuristic fantasy; it's the groundbreaking reality being championed by a pioneering study from UNC Health and Blue Cross NC.

Their 'Food and Health Together' (FaHT) study offers compelling clinical evidence that integrating food delivery models into healthcare can dramatically reduce food insecurity and significantly improve health outcomes for those who need it most.

Food insecurity, the state of not having reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food, is a silent epidemic that profoundly impacts chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease.

For too long, the link between what we eat and how we heal has been underestimated in traditional healthcare. This study sought to change that by directly addressing the nutritional needs of vulnerable populations.

Over the course of three to six months, the FaHT study followed more than 200 food-insecure adults in North Carolina, all living with at least one chronic health condition.

Participants were divided into two intervention groups: one received weekly deliveries of medically tailored meals (MTM), pre-prepared dishes designed by dietitians to meet specific health needs, while the other received weekly deliveries of healthy food boxes filled with fresh produce, lean proteins, and whole grains.

The results are nothing short of astonishing.

Both groups experienced a significant reduction in food insecurity, with a remarkable 66% decrease for those receiving medically tailored meals and a 50% decrease for those getting healthy food boxes. This alone highlights the immediate, tangible impact of consistent access to nutritious food.

But the benefits extended far beyond simply filling pantries.

The study revealed profound improvements in clinical health outcomes. Patients receiving medically tailored meals saw an average drop of 1.5 percentage points in their HbA1c levels, a critical marker for diabetes management, signifying a substantial improvement in blood sugar control. Those in the healthy food box group also saw positive changes, with an average 0.6 percentage point drop in HbA1c.

Both groups achieved an average weight loss of five pounds, demonstrating the power of dietary intervention.

Perhaps most impactful for the healthcare system, the medically tailored meals group also experienced a significant reduction in costly hospitalizations and emergency room visits. This finding provides crucial evidence that 'food as medicine' isn't just a compassionate approach; it's a fiscally responsible one that can lead to healthier lives and reduced healthcare burdens.

Dr.

Seth Berkowitz, an associate professor of medicine at UNC Health and the study's lead investigator, emphasized the importance of these findings, stating that they provide .