Access to healthy foods is a social determinant of health that remains a prevalent problem in the United States. According to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 13.5 percent of U.S. households were food insecure at some point in 2023; an increase compared to 2022 (at 12.8 percent. Fortunately, many entities are implementing interventions from the Food is Medicine Initiative. The Food is Medicine Initiative is a federal strategy—administered by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion— to decrease food insecurity and nutrition-related chronic diseases to enhance health and racial equity in the United States. There are a couple of Food is Medicine programs that are occurring in Northeast Ohio.
Nourishing Beginnings, a collaboration among the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and Case Western Reserve University, MetroHealth, and University Hospitals will launch a study called Nourishing Tomorrow to ensure that pregnant individuals are food secure.
Access to healthy foods is a social determinant of health that is still a prevalent problem in the United States. According to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 13.5 percent of U.S. households were food insecure at some point in 2023; an increase compared to 2022 (at 12.8 percent). Providing equitable solutions to food insecurity can ensure that vulnerable individuals, like pregnant individuals, can live well and prevent medical conditions. Pregnant individuals need to receive healthy foods to have enough nutrients for a healthy pregnancy.
Providing equitable solutions to food insecurity can ensure that vulnerable individuals, like pregnant individuals, can live well and prevent medical conditions.
Without access to healthy foods, pregnant individuals and their unborn child/children are at risk for pre-eclampsia, hemorrhage, low birthweight, stillbirth, and developmental delays. Fortunately, many entities are implementing interventions from the Food is Medicine Initiative. The Food is Medicine Initiative is a federal strategy—administered by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion— to decrease food insecurity and nutrition-related chronic diseases to enhance health and racial equity in the United States.
Nourishing Beginnings plans to start Nourishing Tomorrow study to ensure pregnant individuals and their unborn child/children are food secure
Locally, the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and Case Western Reserve University, in collaboration with MetroHealth and University Hospitals, are implementing an extension to their Nourishing Beginnings program called Nourishing Tomorrow. With funding from the National Institutes for Health (NIH), the collaborative research team will determine if medically tailored groceries (MTG), a Food is Medicine intervention will improve overall health for babies and pregnant individuals. Researchers will compare three groups of pregnant individuals for the Nourishing Tomorrow Program. The three groups are:
- People who pick up their groceries from the MetroHealth and University Hospitals Food is Medicine programs.
- People who receive groceries delivered every other week to their homes.
- People who also receive home delivered groceries, but also receive nutrition and culinary education that includes cooking videos, cooking skill development, and an online social support community.
The pregnant food insecure individuals will be recruited from the high-risk pregnancy clinics at MetroHealth main campus and the UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Ahuja Center for Women & Children. Researchers will be studying a wide range of outcomes including pregnancy and birth outcomes, maternal health, dietary quality, stress, and depression. If this Food is Medicine intervention brings successful results, the hope is that the program could be reimbursed through insurance or public health care funding in the future.
The team hopes to begin recruiting patients for Nourishing Tomorrow starting in March 2025.
Recruitment for Nourishing Tomorrow study will start soon
Currently, researchers are still working on Nourishing Beginnings phase, the pilot for which this new study is based, where participants were recruited by community health workers. The team hopes to begin recruiting patients for Nourishing Tomorrow starting in March 2025. Participants must be pregnant food insecure patients, 18 and older, who are patients at either of the two downtown pregnancy clinics. Hopefully, the success of Nourishing Tomorrow will lead to more pregnant individuals getting access to healthy foods.
The Produce Prescription Working Group utilizes another Food is Medicine intervention to help local citizens
Another entity that aims to help individuals receive access to healthy foods is the Produce Prescription Working Group (PPWG). The Produce Prescription Working Group is affiliated with the newly established Nutrition Equity Committee of the Health Improvement Partnership-Cuyahoga (HIP-Cuyahoga). HIP-Cuyahoga is evolving to align with the new goals of the CDC-funded Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant awarded to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) from December 2023 to September 2028. The purpose of PPWG is to inform the development and implementation of policies that expand and sustain culturally relevant produce prescription programming to:
- Maximize freedom, agency, and dignity in food traditions that lead to holistic health among patients in areas of high food need.
- Promote wealth building among Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino growers. distributors, and nutrition educators involved in produce prescription program delivery.
- Support healthcare savings among clinical providers and insurers.
The PPWG consists of representatives who are food distributors, BIPOC growers and nutrition educators, patients, healthcare professionals, policy decision makers, and strategic allies. In addition, PPWG is finding ways for individuals, specifically SNAP recipients, to gain access to produce prescriptions. PPWG defines produce prescriptions as a strategy for health care workers to prescribe fruits and vegetables, usually with vouchers to buy them, for patients who experience chronic diseases and lack of access to nutritious foods. The prescriptions can be utilized in a health care setting or local farmers' markets, brick-and-mortar or online grocery stores, or mobile markets. Also, many programs provide nutrition education opportunities.
Produce prescriptions are a strategy for health care workers to prescribe fruits and vegetables, usually with vouchers to buy them, for patients who experience chronic diseases and lack of access to nutritious foods
So far, PPWG interacted with policy advocates from Ohio and other states to learn more about the produce prescription policy landscape. The next phase of their work will focus on identifying policy levers to support the expansion of culturally relevant and locally sourced produce prescription programs in Cuyahoga County. In addition, they are partnering with students in the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University to create a compelling business case for culturally relevant and locally sourced produce prescription programs. These students will generate a map of key stakeholders and coach members of the PPWG on pitching this business case to key stakeholders.
Access to healthy foods can produce healthy results
Overall, providing equitable solutions to food insecurity can ensure that vulnerable individuals are able to live well and prevent medical conditions. Without finding solutions to food insecurity, individuals will be susceptible to health conditions that could impact not only their lives, but their families too. By providing Food is Medicine initiatives in Northeast Ohio, residents will be able to obtain healthy foods so they can become productive members in their communities and families.
