Impact of a multicomponent food-as-medicine intervention on behavioral and mental health outcomes for patients with and without food insecurity

Top Things to Know

The R4H program significantly improved vegetable/fruit intake and physical activity among food-insecure patients. This highlights the importance of providing access to nutritious food and promoting physical activity as part of food is medicine interventions, especially for those experiencing food insecurity.

Both food-secure and food-insecure patients experienced improvements in mental health outcomes, such as reduced loneliness, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. This underscores the holistic benefits of food is medicine programs, which can address both physical and mental health needs.

The study suggests that food insecurity should be considered an independent qualifying condition for food-as-medicine programs. Expanding eligibility criteria to include food insecurity could enhance the preventive and therapeutic impact of these interventions, promoting health equity and reducing the burden of diet-related chronic diseases.

Summary of Conclusion/Findings

The study investigated the impact of the Recipe4Health (R4H) program, a multicomponent food-as-medicine (FAM) intervention, on behavioral and mental health outcomes for patients with diet-related chronic conditions and/or food insecurity. The program included 16 weeks of produce deliveries and behavioral intervention sessions. The study found that patients with food insecurity experienced significant increases in daily servings of vegetables/fruit and minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week, while patients with food security did not show significant improvements in these areas. Both groups showed significant improvements in mental health outcomes, including reductions in loneliness, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. However, patients with food security experienced greater improvements in anxiety compared to those with food insecurity.