Curated News
By: NewsRamp Editorial Staff
June 18, 2025

American Heart Association Advocates for 'Food Is Medicine' to Combat Chronic Diseases

TLDR

  • The American Heart Association's 'food is medicine' programs offer a strategic advantage by potentially reducing healthcare costs and improving patient outcomes through diet-related chronic disease management.
  • The American Heart Association's systematic review of 14 randomized controlled trials highlights the need for larger, higher quality studies to assess the clinical outcomes of 'food is medicine' programs.
  • 'Food is medicine' initiatives by the American Heart Association aim to enhance global health by improving diet quality and food security for individuals with chronic diseases.
  • Discover how the American Heart Association's 'food is medicine' programs are pioneering the integration of nutritious food into healthcare to combat chronic diseases.

Impact - Why it Matters

This news matters because it addresses a critical intersection of health care and nutrition, highlighting how integrating healthy food into medical treatment can potentially transform the management and prevention of chronic diseases. With millions of Americans suffering from food insecurity and diet-related health issues, the findings and initiatives discussed offer a promising pathway to not only improve individual health outcomes but also significantly reduce the economic burden on the health care system. The call for more rigorous research and policy investment underscores the importance of evidence-based approaches to health care innovation.

Summary

The American Heart Association has highlighted the potential of 'food is medicine' (FIM) programs in improving diet quality and food security among individuals with chronic diseases, based on a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Despite promising results, the review identified significant gaps in research, underscoring the need for larger, higher quality, and longer-term studies to fully understand the clinical outcomes of such programs. The Association's Health Care by Food™ initiative is at the forefront of addressing these gaps, funding 23 pilot trials to explore the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of FIM interventions. These efforts aim to integrate nutritious food into health care as a fundamental part of treating diet-related chronic conditions.

Published in the Association's flagship journal Circulation, the scientific statement calls for standardized interventions and a stepwise research approach to advance the FIM field. With 47 million Americans facing food insecurity and the U.S. spending approximately $50.4 billion annually on treating diet-related cardiometabolic diseases, the initiative represents a critical step towards reducing health care costs and improving public health. The statement serves as a call to action for researchers, clinicians, and policymakers to invest in the science necessary to make FIM a cornerstone of chronic disease prevention and treatment.

Source Statement

This curated news summary relied on content disributed by NewMediaWire. Read the original source here, American Heart Association Advocates for 'Food Is Medicine' to Combat Chronic Diseases

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