All Media Stories & Op-Ed
The Food is Medicine Movement Originators are Trying to Standardize Medically Tailored Meals
Food corporations, grocery stores, and even tech companies are claiming they are a part of the growing effort to use food to treat medical conditions. Now, the nonprofits that pioneered the work want to standardize it.
The Surest And Safest Way To Maximize Your Health: Food As Medicine
Bill Frist, physician and cochair of the 2022 Task Force on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, calls on our healthcare providers, doctors and nurses alike, to more deliberately collaborate with nutrition experts to effectively engage with and educate patients on dietary needs.
The STATUS List 2024
The 2024 STATUS List features 50 influential people shaping the future of health and life sciences across biotech, medicine, health care, policy, and health tech.
White House Includes Two Tufts-Related Initiatives in Commitments to End Hunger, Reduce Diet-Related Disease
White House Includes Two Tufts-Related Initiatives in Commitments to End Hunger, Reduce Diet-Related Disease.
Cost of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance is Flattening Worker Wages, Contributing to Income Inequality
A new study from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy shows that insurance premiums are holding back wage growth, especially for people of color.
Free Weekly Produce Delivery Improved Blood Sugar, Food Security in Low-Income Adults
This large, randomized controlled trial found that low-income adults with Type 2 diabetes who received free weekly produce deliveries for six months had significantly improved blood sugar control and improved food and nutrition security.
A New Collaboration to Improve Nutrition Information
Google's collaboration with the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University will work to explore technology solutions that help improve nutrition information quality.
New Institute Aims to Change Health Care Through Nutrition
The Food is Medicine Institute will advocate for food-based solutions to fight illness, including produce prescriptions, nutrition education for doctors, and more
Cardiologists Reveal What They Eat for Dinner for Heart Health and Foods to Avoid
Doctors share their favorite heart-healthy options for the biggest meal of the day.
Prescriptions for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Help Boost Heart Health
People with diabetes who were prescribed fruits and vegetables, saw their blood sugar decline significantly. And adults with hypertension saw their blood pressure go down.
Opinion: Food Systems Harm People and Planet. Here is How We Fix That
How do we start fixing the global food system? First, we must advance an agenda that acknowledges there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Fruit and Vegetable ‘Prescriptions’ May Lead to Better Heart Health
Most Americans don’t eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Food is Medicine, so Health Insurance Should Cover it
As a doctor, I can’t write a prescription for an apple a day. But a recent study suggests I should.
America’s Food Program for the Poor Should Focus on Nutrition
After all, it’s called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for a reason.
Produce Prescription Programs for Patients with Diabetes Could Save Billions in Healthcare Costs, Study Shows
A simulation by Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy researchers predicts the clinical and financial benefits of making fruits and vegetables more accessible to food-insecure diabetic patients
Booker, Blunt Rochester Introduce Bicameral Legislation to Scale Up Successful Nutrition Incentive for Fruits and Veggies Nationwide
The legislation would significantly expand the successful Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program.
Unlocking the Power of Food Can Improve the Nation’s Health
Read the Food Tank article
Measuring And Addressing Nutrition Security To Achieve Health And Health Equity
Read the Health Policy Brief by Task Force Co-chair Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian
Here’s a Blueprint for State-Focused Nutrition Advocacy
For food bank advocates seeking to sway their state legislatures toward policies that promote health and nutrition, Dariush Mozaffarian has some guidance about where to push.
Friedman School Dean for Policy Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian Appointed to Bipartisan Policy Center Food is Medicine Working Group
The group will work to craft federal policy recommendations regarding infrastructure, workforce training, and patient and public education to help bridge the gap between health care delivery and food access.
U.S. House Calls for Nutrition Education for Medical Professionals
U.S. House passed a bipartisan resolution calling on medical schools and other health professional training programs to incorporate nutrition education into their curricula, advance nutrition research, and raise awareness of the role that nutrition plays in health.
Strengthening the Child Nutrition Programs
Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) provides Congress with an opportunity to reduce hunger and improve the diet and health of millions of children throughout the United States by strengthening the child nutrition programs.
Millions are suffering from diet-related diseases. What number will make us pay attention?
Americans who suffer from diet-related conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity are 12 times as likely to die after a covid infection.
The Obesity Pandemic Has Made COVID Much More Deadly
Early on, researchers began to realize that obesity was a major risk factor for being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19.
Time For a National Strategy on Food
We are facing a national nutrition crisis that cuts lives short, costs us trillions of dollars and holds us back from achieving our goals as individuals and a nation.
Opinion: Needed: A Second White House Nutrition Conference
Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) have introduced legislation calling for a second White House Conference on Nutrition. They are correct; it is time.
Diet-Related Diseases Pose a Major Risk For Covid-19. But The U.S. Overlooks Them
The same week British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to intensive care for Covid-19, two studies came out identifying obesity as a significant risk factor for serious illness and death.
Booker, Braun, McGovern, and Walorski Introduce Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill That Would Convene a White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, Hunger and Health
U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mike Braun (R-IN) and U.S. Representatives James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN) introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would convene a second national White House conference on food, nutrition, hunger, and health. The first such conference occurred just over 50 years ago, culminating in the creation and expansion of programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program.
Failing Public Health is Killing Americans, Unequally
The states that have suffered the most cases of COVID-19 (mostly in the Southeast and Southwest) also have the highest rates of food insecurity, meaning that people can’t always afford sufficient food, according to data recently released by USDA. These same states also have the highest rates of obesity.
From Silos to Systems Investing in Sustainable Nutrition Science for a Healthy Future
Diet-related disease, climate change, and environmental degradation exact an enormous toll on human and planetary health. These challenges can be addressed in part by shifting what we eat and how we produce food, yet key questions remain about how to make such transitions effective, equitable, and sustainable.
Chronic Health Conditions: Federal Strategy Needed to Coordinate Diet-Related Efforts
Chronic health conditions (like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity) are costly and deadly—causing over half of U.S. deaths in 2018. They also exacerbated the pandemic: Americans with such conditions were 12 times more likely to die after contracting COVID, according to the CDC.
True Cost of Food: Measuring What Matters to Transform the U.S. Food System
This report outlines the true cost of food, which includes the impacts on our health, the environment, biodiversity, livelihoods, and much more. With this new analysis, governments, advocates, corporations, and individuals are better equipped to catalyze the change needed to develop a truly nourishing, equitable, and sustainable food system in the United States.
Food Security isn’t Enough. Anti-Hunger Experts Say The Focus Should be on Nutrition Security
Nutrition security emphasizes access, availability and affordability of foods that promote well-being and prevent or treat disease, not just foods that provide calories.
A Nutrition Report Card for Americans: Dark Clouds, Silver Linings
Almost half of U.S. adults, or 46%, have a poor-quality diet, with too little fish, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans, and too much salt, sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meats.
America Has a Valuable Chance to Reimagine Our Food System as a Force to Combat Climate Change
Government policy has been hijacked by "Big Food"—the farm input suppliers, ingredient processors, and peddlers of cheap, highly processed foods.
It’s Time For a Second Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
Fifty-two years ago, President Nixon convened the first and still only White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health.
Poor Diets Threaten US National Security — And it’s Serious
America’s poor diet isn’t just bad for us. It’s now considered a threat to national security.
How Tufts Is Convening a Call for a National Nutrition Research ‘Moonshot’
The Friedman School and other institutes have outlined specific options to strengthen and accelerate federal nutrition research to transform lives, reduce health disparities, and reduce health-care spending.
How Your Diet Can Help Flatten The Curve
Greater federal coordination and investment in nutrition research could accelerate discoveries across critical areas and positively impact the economy, public health, and population resilience to COVID-19 and new threats.
We Need Better Answers on Nutrition
The U.S. is overdue to establish an institute devoted to research on the top cause of poor health.
Our Food Is Killing Too Many of Us
Improving American nutrition would make the biggest impact on our health care.
Food is Medicine: How US Policy is Shifting Toward Nutrition For Better Health
In this new year, millions of Americans will make resolutions about healthier eating. In 2019, could U.S. government leaders further resolve to improve healthier eating as well, joining public health experts in seeing that food is medicine?
Focusing on Nutrition is Paramount to Getting a Sound, Bipartisan Farm Bill Out
The farm bill is finally headed to conference. To three former Secretaries of Agriculture, this would normally be cause for celebration. Instead of appreciating the farm bill’s progress, however, we have found ourselves becoming distressed. Debate over this monumental piece of food and agriculture legislation has neglected a crucial subject: nutrition.
Want to Fix America’s Health Care? First, Focus on Food
The national debate on health care is moving into a new, hopefully bipartisan phase. The fundamental underlying challenge is cost – the massive and ever-rising price of care which drives nearly all disputes, from access to benefit levels to Medicaid expansion.