Food is medicine. But affordability is an obstacle to families getting that food.

If we want to embrace the full potential of food-as-medicine, expanding access to healthy food is the true cure.

Ever since I began my journey as a physician, I’ve watched as new advancements in health care have transformed the way we treat chronic illnesses. But in some cases, one of the most important, timeless, and accessible treatments we have is the food on our plates.

The concept of “food as medicine” is gaining momentum. While not a cure-all, eating more fruits and vegetables has proven to lower the risk of diet-related diseases, providing patients with a tried-and-true approach to improve their overall health and manage preexisting conditions. The challenge is, how do we get more people to incorporate healthy food in their diets — particularly those who struggle with food insecurity in the first place?

Currently, 90% of Americans are failing to eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. For families already struggling to make ends meet, affordability is often the biggest obstacle to accessing the healthy food they need. Fortunately, innovative initiatives are helping us get fruits and vegetables into the hands of those who need them most.

The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), which is part of the federal farm bill, provides funding for nutrition incentive and produce prescription initiatives at the state level that are helping more communities tap into the food-as-medicine movement. These investments have helped expand healthy food access over the last decade — but more must be done to expand and improve these programs so they can reach their full potential. GusNIP is now in nearly all 50 states, yet there continues to be an unmet need in communities across the country that this program can solve.

Thanks to produce prescriptions, health care providers can write scripts for produce instead of pills. Eligible patients in turn receive vouchers that can be used to buy fruits and vegetables so they can add more healthy food to their diet. This groundbreaking approach is helping to expand food-as-medicine, with impacts rivaling drug therapies for cardiometabolic health and improved diabetes outcomes.

Nutrition incentive programs such as Double Up Food Bucks are also making major gains in healthy food access and helping people lower their risk of diet-related diseases. This approach helps people using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, make their benefits go further with a dollar-for-dollar match on purchases of fruits and vegetables at participating farmers’ markets and grocery stores. The result is a triple win: families eat more healthy food, farmers and retailers benefit from more sales, and we make progress toward preventing diet-related diseases and improving public health across the board.

This approach is working. A recent analysis shows that people who use nutrition incentives eat more fruits and vegetables compared with the average American, while improving their food security. Reports have also shown how embracing food-as-medicine could save upward of $13.6 billion in health care costs if scaled across the country. However, there is high demand for these programs and not enough resources to go around. Due to the overwhelming need, some partners who run these initiatives have had to make tough choices to limit options to participants in order to conserve resources.

As Congress considers reauthorizing the farm bill this year, lawmakers can take action to help more families lead healthier lives. Over 600 farm, food and health leaders put forward proposals to expand GusNIP-funded programs across more food retailers and make it easier for more partners to participate. Ultimately, this consensus approach is a cost-effective way to increase access to fruits and vegetables for children, families, and seniors with low incomes, while also working to lower health care costs for everyone.

Numerous lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and both sides of the Capitol have put forward proposals to help nutrition incentives and produce prescriptions benefit more families and farmers, including legislation from U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat, and U.S. Reps. Rick Crawford, an Alaska Republican, and Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat.

If we want to embrace the full potential of food-as-medicine, expanding access to healthy food is the true cure. And right now, Congress has the power to take action in the farm bill to expand and improve GusNIP so that more Americans can make healthy choices and add more fruits and vegetables to their diet.

Dr. Jennifer Groos is a pediatrician at Primary Health Care in Des Moines.

Source: desmoinesregister.com