Unlocking the Potential of Food as Medicine

The phrase “you are what you eat” is more than a catchy saying—it encapsulates a transformative shift in our approach to health care. The burgeoning food as medicine movement is challenging the traditional boundaries of nutrition and health care, demonstrating how our dietary choices can play a vital role in managing disease and promoting wellness.

Consider the gravity of this: More than 100 million people in the United States suffer from diet-related illnesses, accounting for a staggering 85% of health-care costs. The premise behind food as medicine is simple yet revolutionary—it posits that our food choices directly influence our health and can be used as a proactive tool against conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.

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The evidence supporting this approach is compelling. Last year, a study by researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Tufts University, and others found that when doctors prescribed produce to patients with cardiovascular disease, it helped lower blood sugar and blood pressure levels. Another study by Abbott showed that food as medicine can lead to clinical improvements in patients with diabetes.

While the research is encouraging, significant challenges remain. Millions of Americans face food insecurity, with nearly 34 million people—including five million children—living in homes without consistent access to nutritious food. These obstacles make scaling food as medicine programs challenging.

Technology presents a potential solution. Companies like Instacart are using new tools to expand initiatives and research partnerships, so that the power and potential of food as medicine can be realized for more patients, families, and communities.

That’s one of the reasons we started Instacart Health in 2022: to help scale promising food as medicine interventions by leveraging our technology, reach, and partnerships. As the leading grocery technology company in North America, Instacart plays a key role in how people access food, reaching over 95% of North American households with fresh groceries from local retailers—including 93% of U.S. households in low income, low access areas, commonly known as food deserts.

This expansive reach, combined with new technologies like digital grocery stipends, has facilitated collaborations with organizations including DispatchHealth, Partnership for a Healthier America, the American Heart Association, and the University of Kentucky to support, scale, and study food as medicine programs. The early results are promising.

For example, Instacart teamed up with Good Measures, a digital health company that works with public and private health plans to provide personalized, culturally relevant nutrition coaching and food prescriptions. Good Measures is now using Instacart Health tools to deliver curated, medically tailored groceries to its members.

In the first year of the program, 68% of participants experienced improved or maintained blood pressure, and those with stage 2 hypertension saw the greatest improvements, with a 10.6% average systolic reduction and 13.4% average diastolic reduction.

Online grocery technology also unlocks dignity of choice for food as medicine program participants. In a produce stipends program launched last year by Instacart and Partnership for a Healthier America to help families purchase more fruits and vegetables, 80% of participants said they preferred produce credits over commonly used pre-packed boxes and 78% said the program helped them build healthier habits.

This is just the beginning. We’re also supporting the American Heart Association’s Health Care by Food initiative with our technologies, and we recently announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to expand food as medicine programs across the country.

The journey ahead is undoubtedly arduous, requiring the collective effort of policymakers, private sector leaders, researchers, and nonprofits. But the potential rewards are vast: ensuring the power of food as medicine reaches every family in every community, transforming health care as we know it.ft

The opinions expressed in Dialogue are those of the author.