Advancing Healthy Equity and Nutrition Security

How can food science play a role in “food as medicine” approaches as well as equitable, sustainable nutrition solutions? How can collaboration among governments, businesses, university researchers, and others bring about innovation?

Panelists who cut across sectors and backgrounds discussed these and related questions in an IFT FIRST featured session on Tuesday, titled “Empowering Nutrition Security: A Vision for Health Equity and Impactful Partnerships.”

Moderator Sylvia Rowe, president and owner at SR Strategy, noted the importance bringing all participants in the food system into such dialogues. “No matter where you come from, you have a stake in this issue because it’s important for public health in the long run,” she said. “The challenge is, we are very siloed; we don’t talk across sectors.”

To foster collaboration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) MyPlate Plan public–private partnership has brought together nearly 150 players across all sectors to brainstorm innovative ideas, Caree Jackson Cotwright, director of nutrition security and health equity at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).

The Food Nutrition Innovation Institute (FNII) at Tufts University brings together nonprofits, food and ingredient companies, startups, and academics, said Katie Stebbins, executive director of FNII. “It’s creating a community of practice,” she said. “It’s important to be able to create these spaces.”

In a pre-recorded video address, Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, shared his vision of a food system where everyone has enough healthy food to eat, and “where scientifically sound information promotes good health.” USDA has updated its school nutrition standards to reduce sodium, “and, for the first time ever, focus on lowering added sugars,” he said. “This was made possible by research and innovative product development by many of you attending this conference.”

Cotwright expanded on Vilsack’s thoughts to share that her office aims to promote healthy, safe, affordable food, as well as innovative science and equitable access. “I’m so motivated to no longer let ZIP codes define life expectancy,” she said. “Structural inequities make it difficult for people to eat healthy.” The MyPlate Plan takes aim at this issue, she added.

FNS began incorporating a “food as medicine” approach two years ago following the White House Conference on Hunger and Nutrition, working with agencies like the National Institutes for Health as well as with the healthcare sector. “We look at ourselves as preventive care,” Cotwright said. “We know kids won’t eat things that aren’t tasty. We are counting on you.”

WeightWatchers aims to help members lose weight in sustainable, realistic ways, said Gary Foster, chief science officer at the company. “People have evolved in their way of thinking about weight management,” he said. “They used to view it as this very different process: ‘I’m going to do whatever draconian methods are required to lose weight, and then I’ll come back to my life.’”

GLP-1 medication aimed at diabetes and weight loss “is the biggest advancement in the treatment of obesity, probably ever,” Foster said. Patients appreciate their lack of appetite but express concerns about “how to make the most of their calories” and sometimes face a “double-stigma” of “taking the easy way out,” he said. In addition, “It’s a game-changer, [but] for relatively few people: People who have insurance and/or can pay over $1,000 a month, or their company covers it.”

Stebbins encouraged attendees to think about nutrition as an indicator of economic health. “What if we had a nutrition centered-economy?” she said. “We have a sick-care industry that’s way too big, a poverty economy that’s way too big ... We have to start valuing wellness as an economic asset.”

All 10 of the schools within Tufts does something in food-related, Stebbins said. “We’re super-transdisciplinary.” With no business school in the mix, “it ends up being around, ‘How do we collaborate to solve interesting problems?’” she said. “Food as medicine is still in the aspirational phase … For food scientists, it’s going to be very important to double down on that conversation.”ft