Food‑as‑Medicine Momentum

Food is increasingly being treated as part of medical care, not just lifestyle advice, as U.S. health systems expand produce prescriptions, medically tailored groceries, and medically tailored meals. (jamanetwork.com) A March 2026 JAMA Health Forum paper said Food Is Medicine programs now span three tiers of care and are moving into clinical workflows through nutrition screening, electronic health record referrals, and multidisciplinary teams. (jamanetwork.com) A June 18, 2025 American Heart Association scientific statement reviewed 14 randomized controlled trials in the United States and found consistent gains in diet quality and food security, while saying clinical outcome data are still mixed and larger studies are needed. (heart.org) Policy is moving with the research. As of January 2025, 16 states had approved or proposed Medicaid Section 1115 waivers to cover Food Is Medicine treatments, according to Tufts researchers. (tufts.edu) That same Tufts-led analysis, published in Health Affairs in April 2025, estimated medically tailored meals would be cost-saving in 49 of 50 states if fully taken up by eligible patients, with more than 14 million Americans potentially qualifying. (healthaffairs.org) Clinician groups are also tying food strategy to obesity drugs. On May 30, 2025, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the American Society for Nutrition, the Obesity Medicine Association, and The Obesity Society released a joint advisory on nutrition priorities for patients using glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, medicines for obesity. (nutrition.org) The advisory said patients on GLP-1 drugs need enough protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and fluids to limit muscle loss, nutrient gaps, and gastrointestinal side effects as appetite falls and calorie intake drops. (obesity.org) The paper also said food insecurity, drug access, and limited cooking knowledge can affect who benefits from GLP-1 treatment, placing Food Is Medicine programs and dietitian support inside the same obesity-care conversation. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) Institutions are building around that shift. The Food Is Medicine Institute at Tufts announced a third annual Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill for June 3, 2026, aimed at pressing Congress to back Food Is Medicine policy. (tuftsfoodismedicine.org) A separate March 17, 2026 blueprint from the Food Is Medicine Coalition and Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation laid out a national framework for integrating medically tailored meals into U.S. healthcare financing and delivery. (fimcoalition.org) The current version of the movement is less about a single diet than about getting clinicians, insurers, and patients to treat nutrient-dense food the way medicine has long treated drugs: as something prescribed, measured, and followed over time. (thinkglobalhealth.org)