Nearly 200 attendees from at least 28 states gathered in Washington, D.C. on March 12, 2025 for the Food is Medicine Institute’s 2nd Annual Food is Medicine Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill. 

Food is Medicine is poised to play a critical role in addressing the growing disease burdens and costs of diet-related illnesses in communities and across the nation. Food is Medicine (FIM) interventions reflect the critical link between nutrition and health, integrated into healthcare delivery. Such interventions provide medically tailored meals, groceries, and produce to support disease management, in combination with nutrition and culinary education, as part of a patient’s healthcare treatment plan.

Participants represented a wide cross-section of voices invested in FIM: patients and participants in FIM programs, physicians, registered dietitians, food industry representatives, food banks, providers of FIM services and products (medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, and produce prescriptions), healthcare systems, life insurers, researchers, nonprofit organizations, and more. These participants were organized into 20+ meeting teams and spent the day conducting a combined total of 160 visits with Congressional offices.

The purpose of the visits was to educate about the power of FIM to transform health, improve the way our nation prevents and treats diet-related diseases, and drive health equity across the country. A key point was that a focus on nutrition is largely missing from the healthcare system and that FIM interventions respond to that gap by targeting the strong links between nutrition and disease. They also respond to public demand for participating in programs that provide healthy foods to prevent, manage, and treat many diseases.

FIM can play a critical role in combatting the chronic disease epidemic, but sustained investment in FIM research and interventions, along with clinician education and training, is needed to build a stronger evidence base for effectiveness and impact on health outcomes, which can better inform policy and program decisions.

In addition to educating Congressional offices about FIM, some attendees also discussed specific bills and topics, such as:

• Appropriations for FIM and nutrition research at the National Institutes of Health
• Appropriations for the FIM initiative at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
• Appropriations for produce prescriptions at the Indian Health Service and Veterans Health Administration
• Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Demonstration Pilot Act
• Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP)
• Nutrition education for health care providers

The event’s messages were well-received by both Republican and Democratic offices and leaders in the Senate and House. The ability of FIM interventions to produce both health and economic return on investment was a message that resonated particularly well.

The day began with a breakfast event for attendees to gather with their teams and prepare for the day. During the breakfast, remarks were delivered by Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, Director of the Food is Medicine Institute; Mr. Larry Davis, member of the Michigan Collaborative for the Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes; and Congresswoman Robin Kelly and Congressman Jim McGovern. After a full day of Congressional office visits, the day concluded with a reception for attendees and members of Congress and their staff, and featured remarks from Senator Cory Booker.

Organizers 

The 2nd Annual Food is Medicine Advocacy Day was proudly organized by the following collaborators:

• Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University
• American College of Lifestyle Medicine
• American Heart Association
• Capital Area Food Bank
• Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
• Food is Medicine Coalition
• Instacart
• John Hancock
• National Produce Prescription Collaborative
• Pennington Biomedical Research Center

The Food is Medicine Advocacy Day was financially supported by the Tufts Food is Medicine Institute.