After the holidays and December solstice, I always like to take an opportunity to reflect on the year that’s brought us here and to begin looking ahead towards brighter and longer days. While it hasn’t been quite a full year since I started writing here (a post on that will come in February), I still think the season deserves a look back. Here are what I think are some of the key moments for food as medicine in 2023.
Events
COP 28: Food was the major focus of this year’s COP 28, an annual gathering of world leaders to brainstorm solutions to climate change. For the first time since its inception, the conference explicitly addressed the role of agriculture and the larger international food system in the climate conversation. A declaration was signed by over 130 countries committing to more sustainable farming practices, an entire day was devoted to food, and a food systems road map was presented by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The final documents released at the end of the conference also acknowledged the role of agriculture in responding to climate change. While it’s a just a first step, it’s an exciting direction for the global fight for food security and I’m eager to see where these commitments lead.
Food as Medicine Summit: There’s been a marked increase in events bringing together food as medicine professionals, especially as the field grows. This year’s Food as Medicine Policy Summit was held in Washington, D.C., a year after President Biden announced his administration’s commitment to investing in more food and nutrition access programs. The event brought together leaders such as Michel Nischan, the founder of Wholesome Wave, and Alissa Wassung, the Executive Director of the Food is Medicine Coalition to speak on the future of the field. The next conference is already scheduled for May 2024, in Chicago.
Food is Medicine Institute Launch: In October, Tufts University launched its Food is Medicine Institute, the first of its kind in the U.S.. Housed within the school of Nutrition Science and Policy, the institute will build the evidence base for food as medicine through research and community and policy engagement. Its priorities are mostly healthcare approaches such as medically tailored meals, produce prescription programs, electronic health records, reimbursement pathways, and nutrition education for doctors. They also will implement courses and education for future food as medicine professionals, and I’m curious to see what exactly that entails.
Reports
There were several major reports released in 2023 that highlighted the profound impact of food as medicine and compassionate food policy on our health. I expect the data outlined in these reports will heavily influence next year’s conversations about action and impact in the space.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report on the national state of hunger in 2022, compiling data collected through the Census. The sobering results show that food insecurity has increased significantly since 2021; 12.8% (17 million) households were food insecure at some point in 2022, compared to 10.2% (13.5 million) in 2021. This is due in no small part to the rollback of COVID-era support programs that helped so many families make ends meet. I hope to see the results of this report used to justify more support for families struggling with hunger.
Tufts University released the True Cost of Food: Food is Medicine Case Study, which presents the results of two national case studies evaluating the impact of medically tailored meal (MTM) interventions. The studies found that investment in MTM programming has the potential to avert over 1.6 million hospitalizations and save nearly $14 billion in health care costs, despite the costs of implementation. This may be a keystone in building the evidence base to justify putting national dollars towards food as medicine.
The Food as Medicine Center Report shared by the Center for Food as Medicine is a truly comprehensive work spanning both the origins of today’s modern food as medicine approaches and examining mechanisms for future growth. It considers interventions, policies, approaches to treat and manage disease, recommendations, and challenges. For anyone interested in learning more about food as medicine, it’s a fantastic place to start your education.
Earlier this month, ReFED released Reducing Food Loss and Waste: A Roadmap for Philanthropy, which speaks directly to the impact of wasted food on both physical health and the health of the environment. The report offers five key takeaways for how to jointly address climate change and food insecurity, from setting policy to reducing food loss in agriculture and supporting consumer behavior change. These are tall orders, but the roadmap is a good guide to begin this critical work.
And finally, while it’s not technically a report, Nature Medicine Journal’s entire April issue focused on the role of diet-focused interventions on treating chronic conditions and diseases. The issue consolidates several academic studies that shed light on the impact of diet on disease, and begins to build the evidence base for more targeted interventions in the future.
Funding
I wrote a post last month on how funders like American Heart Association, Rockefeller Foundation, New York Health Foundation, and more have made great strides in expanding the landscape of available resources for food as medicine.
Funds were also distributed federally by the office of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of their newly formed Food as Medicine initiative, which is tasked with developing and implementing a federal strategy to reduce nutrition-related chronic disease and food insecurity. This initiative has already distributed resources to support innovations in Medicaid support and support implementation of best practices. While I’m still waiting to see more community-based funding emerge, I’m excited HHS’s approach intentionally outlines its commitment to working with communities most affected by food and nutrition insecurity and to cultivating cross-sectoral partnerships.
Policy
Many food policy advocates have waited anxiously for a decision to be made about the Farm Bill, which was due to be reauthorized and implemented this fall. Civil Eats has done a fantastic job with their coverage of the many elements of the Farm Bill, and what’s at stake should the bill not be renewed once its current extension ends. I’ve also discussed some of the Farm Bill’s implications here and here.
It’s frustrating and unfortunate that so much is hanging in the balance right now, and I think this is the opportunity for philanthropy to provide guard rails should the final results of the Farm Bill be disappointing. But there’s also plenty of positive and exciting changes happening in local policy that give me hope. New York appears poised to enact free healthy school meals for all, which would provide free meals for all students regardless of income. This is a proven strategy to address food insecurity and improve mental and physical health. There is also a proposed bill that would make school meals free nationwide, as well as multiple federal policies presented to Congress that address food insecurity more broadly. We’ll see if any get passed, but I believe that as public awareness increases about these issues we may see more pressure on our elected officials to make real change happen.
2023 has been a big year for food as medicine, and I’m excited to see what the next year will bring. I also have some exciting projects coming up next year that I can’t wait to share here. As we head into 2024, I’m hopeful that we’ll see even more community awareness, investment, and support in all types of food as medicine interventions. What are you seeing, and what do you hope to see? Please comment below!
Reading
Finals are done and right now I’m letting my brain smooth out a bit. I’m enjoying Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere and looking forward to Bryan Washington’s Family Meal. Then, it’s back to the grind as I begin to work on my capstone project, which is heavily focused on food as medicine. I’ll be posting a reading list and some more details of that project in a future post.
Cooking
I’ve been doing a lot of holiday cooking and baking recently, which means plenty of soups, stews, baked pastas, and cookies. They’re not the prettiest dishes in the world, but I was really proud of this baked pasta I made earlier this month. Not only was it delicious, but I was able to use up so many bits in the fridge that otherwise might have gone bad. I love a recipe that helps me reduce waste and tastes amazing!