Opinion: Does food as medicine help patients with diabetes? Here’s what a new clinical trial says
Does food as medicine help patients with diabetes? Here’s what a new clinical trial says.
Food-as-medicine programs that address food insecurity and diet-related chronic diseases have drawn widespread attention from policymakers, payers, and health care providers. But what is the evidence that such programs work as intended? Some research suggests that food as medicine can improve health and lower health care costs, but until now there has been little evidence from randomized clinical trials.
In a paper published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, we report the results of a clinical trial of a particularly intensive food-as-medicine program. We were fortunate to partner with a large health care system whose food-as-medicine program is celebrated as a model. The approach involves the “prescription” of healthy food to patients who are food insecure and suffering from uncontrolled type 2 diabetes (an HbA1c > 8). The health care system opened brick-and-mortar clinics where patients can receive enough food for 10 meals each week for the patient and their family. While at the clinic, patients received consultations from a dietician, nurse, or community health worker. They could also participate in diabetes self-management training and cooking classes. By prescribing the intervention, the program sought to overcome stigma associated with going to a food bank and better manage patients’ diet-responsive chronic conditions. And while other programs offer healthy food for only a few weeks, this program allowed participants to stay with the program much longer, averaging about one year. The cost of the program per patient is roughly $1,900.
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