Writer, Melissa Masters reports on a proposed new federal “food pyramid” that explicitly supports a food-as-medicine approach as a strategy to reduce healthcare costs and improve population health outcomes, and it spotlights Project FoodBox as a real-world example of how these principles can be implemented through medically tailored food programs.
It explains how federal agencies and policymakers aim to integrate medically tailored meals and nutrition interventions into mainstream care, while Project FoodBox is cited for its work delivering fresh, medically tailored produce and meals to Medicaid members in partnership with managed care organizations, illustrating how nutrition can function as a reimbursable, prescribable component of treatment rather than a peripheral wellness add-on. The piece also highlights anticipated economic impacts, arguing that investing in nutrition security and programs like Project FoodBox could lower spending on chronic disease care and unnecessary medical utilization, while raising questions about implementation, funding mechanisms, and the influence of healthcare and food industry stakeholders on the evolving guidelines.
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