The latest healthcare innovation is decades old, easy-to-understand, and proven to work: food as medicine. Yet, food as medicine is gaining steam as a new trend in the medical community. What does that mean for pharmacy? How does pharmacy support patient healthcare in the realm of “food as medicine?” And how do pharmacies leverage the new possibilities opened by this concept?
What is food as medicine?
Food as medicine, or food is medicine, refers to a philosophical approach to healthcare where food and nutrition are worked into a care plan to support patient health and wellness.
Here are a few examples of how food is medicine can be executed:
- Medically tailored meal plans to combat chronic conditions
- Medically guided grocery selection as preventative care
- Produce prescription programs
We all know preventative care, early detection, and quick intervention are the keys to defeating many chronic conditions in the U.S. Many healthcare experts believe diabetes looms as the next pandemic, and that adopting a food is medicine treatment may help prevent the scope of that potential pandemic from escalating. Going beyond diagnosed diabetes and at-risk or pre-diabetic patients, at its core, food is medicine is becoming successful preventative care. So much so, that payors have started showing interest in developing programs for patients, across multiple risk categories. Read more >