Food is Health

Overview

Co-Chair: Ellen Brown, BP2 Health
Co-Chair: Colleen Zammer, Bay State Milling Company
Faculty Advisor: Corby Kummer, Senior Lecturer, Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts

The Food is Health working group strives to forge a path toward a future state that reimagines the relationship between food, healthcare, and the economy. It envisions a systemic redesign where nutrition is foundational to well-being and prevention takes precedence over treatment. By fully integrating food systems with healthcare, we can address the root causes of chronic disease, reduce healthcare costs, and empower individuals with the autonomy to make healthier choices. Flexible healthcare dollars unlock access to nutritious foods, while healthcare providers embrace food as a tool for prevention, prescribing nutrition alongside medical care. 

This transformation requires collaboration across all parts of the food value chain. Farmers grow nutrient-dense crops, manufacturers innovate to produce healthier, affordable options, and distribution systems ensure food reaches every community. Consumers gain the power to choose health through accessible, nutritious foods tailored to their needs. By aligning policies, systems, and incentives, we can shift from a costly, reactive “sick care” model to a proactive “well care” future—where food and healthcare work in unison to improve health outcomes, drive economic resilience, and enable communities to thrive.

Outputs

1. 1. Working Paper: The Multi-Sectoral Use of Food as Medicine: From Myth to Market, Suzannah Gerber, 2021
   2. Food is Medicine National Summit: Transforming Healthcare, April 2023 (Conference Proceedings)

Members