
Oklahoma Farm Report’s Maci Carter caught up with Molly Van Lieu of the International Fresh Produce Association to talk about the meaning behind the phrase, “Food is medicine.”
“For us, it means a produce prescription as a standard practice of clinical care,” Van Lieu stated.
She used the example of a patient suffering from a diet-related disease visiting his or her doctor and receiving a prescription for fruits and vegetables in conjunction with the pharmaceutical solution. The prescription will then be redeemable at a local grocery store or through a delivery service.
“Our hope is that people can get off of those pharmaceutical interventions, and that has happened in many cases,” Van Lieu said. “But this is really designed to be a partnership with their pharmaceutical medications because we know that pharmaceuticals work better when people are eating healthier.”
She explained that while some private insurance companies are participating in the concept, it is demonstrated in policy in three main areas: pilot programs at the Veterans Affairs, Indian Health Services, and in a few states through Medicaid with an 1115 Waiver.
Carter asked Van Lieu about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s recent nomination as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Van Lieu replied, “RFK has indicated that chronic and diet-related diseases are important to him. Our role is to convey the importance and the role of fruits and vegetables in addressing diet-related disease.”
Van Lieu is confident that the fruit and vegetable industry will be able to step up to the increased demand as the prescription produce concept becomes popular in more and more areas.
“We are an incredibly resilient industry,” she said. “We deal with barriers every day, be it labor, weather, or trade issues. We do think this can dramatically increase fruit and vegetable consumption, but it won’t be overnight so the industry will have time to adapt, but we do need to ensure that we have an adequate labor workforce if we want to continue to see these programs grow.”
She said that the program doesn’t distinguish organic produce from non-organic, but rather allows the consumer to make that choice. “If we start splitting hairs in fruits and vegetables, we aren’t going to achieve the increase in consumption that we need,” she explained. “Today, only one in ten Americans meet the dietary guidelines, so eating any fruit or vegetable that the consumer wants to eat is going to be in the best interest of their health and the industry.”
Like other producers, Van Lieu is anxiously awaiting a farm bill as it contains a small percentage of funding to help start more pilot programs so that the International Fresh Produce Association can continue to collect data on the program’s outcomes.
“How and what people eat in the United States is very much important to the Farm Bill, so ensuring the industry has the resources that they need beyond traditional nutrition programs, is going to impact if Americans have access to fruits and vegetables, so we need a strong farm bill, and we need it soon,” Van Lieu stated.
Eighty Percent of health care dollars are spent on preventable diet-related diseases. Half of Americans have diabetes or pre-diabetes. Seventy-five percent of Americans are overweight or obese. “At this point, everybody knows fruits and vegetables are good for them, but aren’t eating enough of them so we have to embrace the healthcare industry given the consequences that it has on healthcare outcomes as a partner and part of the solution to increasing fruit and vegetable consumption.”