‘Wellness as an economic asset,’ Tufts University on creating a food system for better health, nutrition

‘Wellness as an economic asset,’ Tufts University on creating a food system for better health, nutrition

“We are not valuing healthy as an economic asset in this country. … We have sick days missed at work. We have unpaid caregivers hamstrung by illness. We have to start evaluating wellness as an economic asset,” Stebbins said during a panel presentation in Chicago last week.  

Moving beyond silver bullets: ‘We need to start … having different conversations’

Over the years, the food-as-medicine trend and movement​ gained steam as a possible solution to several negative US health metrics, bringing together CPG, retail, agriculture, non-profit, healthcare providers and insurance stakeholders.

Private research school Tufts University is at the forefront of this emerging field and trend, advocating for systemwide changes that can improve health outcomes of US consumers, Stebbins told FoodNavigator-USA. Tufts University launched its Food is Medicine Institute in 2023, designed to “bridge the gap between nutrition and the medical system,” as FoodNavigator-USA reported​. 

“We need to start sitting in different places and having different conversations because I worry sometimes we [say,] ‘We are just going to make a better molecule.’ Continuing to make a better molecule or making AI somehow work harder is not going to solve this. It is a piece of it. … We get infatuated that there is going to be a silver bullet. It is going fix things, and that is just not how change happens,” Stebbins explained.

Katie Stebbins (pictured furthest to the right) presented on a panel at IFT FIRST.

Katie Stebbins (pictured furthest to the right) presented on a panel at IFT FIRST.

While food-as-medicine programs typically focus on food prescriptions and healthy eating incentive programs, Stebbins — who has a background in economic development — also advocates for holistic food-system change that addresses larger societal issues to improve health outcomes and support healthy eating.

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