​Making the case that food is medicine

An estimated 129 million people in the U.S. have at least one major chronic disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In senior living communities, the numbers skew higher, with more than half of residents living with two or three chronic conditions and 19 percent living with one. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and hypertension are among the most prevalent chronic diseases people are managing – and they’re also some of the leading causes of death. But the good news is that many of these conditions are preventable and treatable.
Increasingly, food is being used as part of that prevention and treatment. Tufts University, for example, recently launched the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. It’s aiming to help integrate food-based nutrition interventions into health care – resources such as medically customized meals, prescriptions for produce, and nutrition-based tools to help treat or prevent diet-related illnesses. In another example, the Boston Medical Center has been “prescribing” food to patients via its own rooftop farm for several years, according to a recent article in The Washington Post. The farm grows 25 vegetable varieties and, each season, yields about 6,000 pounds of produce.
Expect more facilities that cater to an aging population to follow suit. Research is showing that there are significant opportunities for organizations that can make a convincing link between health and fresh, delicious food. A recent survey by Restaura found that older adults looking to stay healthy and live independently are looking to food as a critical tool. But their assumptions about senior living communities don’t motivate them to move in: Restaura found that 68 percent of respondents seek meal options that cater to their individual tastes and preferences, yet only 17 percent are very confident that senior living communities could deliver the dining options they desire. Bringing fresh food closer to them can help – whether that includes hosting a farmers’ market on a regular basis, offering farm-to-table meals with seasonal produce, or planting vegetables in container gardens onsite.