What is ‘food is medicine,’ really? Policy considerations on the road to health care coverage

Food Is Medicine interventions are increasingly gaining attention from policy makers, payers, and health care professionals as a promising approach to addressing diet-related chronic health conditions in the health care setting, given the increasing burden and cost of these conditions. The American Heart Association defines Food Is Medicine as the provision of healthy food such as medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, and produce prescriptions to treat or manage specific clinical conditions in a way that is integrated with and paid for by the health care sector. Importantly, Food Is Medicine is distinct from, yet complementary to, food and nutrition assistance programs and population-level healthy food policies and programs. In this article, we discuss the importance of this distinction and the prerequisites for successfully integrating Food Is Medicine interventions within the health care system: a standard definition of Food Is Medicine focused on medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, and produce prescriptions; a research base showing clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness; and implementation that ensures fidelity and quality.