Hello, everyone, and welcome to April! We’ll have a month full of delicious Thursdays for you at Pathfinder Produce! Stop by the Village Commons from noon to 5 p.m. for the freshest tastes around, and don’t forget our online ordering option! We’re local, we’re affordable and we’re Rooted in Community!
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The Veggie Prescription
The adage goes “You are what you eat.” I believe that is true in many cases, and many people suffer from conditions that may be rooted in or affected by poor eating habits. Locally, for several years, our partners at Bassett Healthcare Network have been promoting their 5210 programs to encourage folks to:
- Eat 5 servings of fresh fruits and veggies each day
- Reduce recreational screen time to
2 hours - Take 1 hour of physical activity daily
- And to reduce their intake of sugary drinks to 0.
Healthcare providers are now starting to examine alternatives to prescribing drugs as the first option of care. A recent article from Fast Company examines a Tufts University study that makes the case that subsidized produce purchases–prescribing fresh fruits and veggies -- can prevent millions of cases of chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma, and heart disease, and reduce healthcare costs.
The Tufts study, published in PLOS Medicine, looked at Medicare or Medicaid recipients, and examined two different food voucher scenarios:
- one covered 30% of the recipients’ produce expenses
- the other covered produce plus other healthy foods, like whole grains
The study predicted through a simulation model that the patients receiving subsidies would rely less on healthcare services. Quantitatively, the study said that the first scenario would prevent 1.93 million cardiovascular events (such as heart attacks) and 350,000 deaths, as well as cut healthcare costs by $40 billion. The expanded second scenario would prevent 3.28 million cardiovascular events, 620,000 deaths, and 120,000 cases of diabetes–and save the U.S. system a whopping $100 billion.
Other news headlines back up the effectiveness of integrating fruits and veggies into treatment plans and prevention programs. Allison Aubrey from NPR filed a story about the Food Pharmacy, a pilot program at Geisinger Health System in central Pennsylvania. Diabetics accessing more fresh produce, at about a cost of $1,000 each year per patient, were able to markedly improve their health over time, and spent far less in healthcare costs, roughly about $24,000 per individual.
Other articles and websites featuring the benefits of healthy food prescriptions include:
- University of Vermont: Trading Aspirin for Asparagus
- Wholesome Wave Website (based in Bridgeport, CT, and Berkeley, CA)
- Healthline.com: Here’s How Healthy Food Prescriptions Could Save Lives & Money
Until next time, eat well and be well!
Lori
