Fruit and vegetable

“Prescribe” fruits and vegetables for adults and children is associated with increased consumption of these foods and multiple health benefits, according to a new study.

The analysis, published in the peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association Circulation, looked at people at increased risk of cardiovascular disease who participated in produce prescription programs for an average of six months and found that they increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables. The researchers found that this change was associated with an improvement in body mass index, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure, as well as a decrease in food insecurity.

“Poor nutrition and nutritional insecurity are major drivers of chronic disease globally, including cardiometabolic conditions such as type 2 diabetes and its cardiovascular consequences such as heart failure, heart attack, and stroke,” said Dr. Mitchell Elkind, clinical scientific director of the American Heart Association. and tenured professor of neurology and epidemiology at Columbia University, said in a Press release. “This analysis of produce prescription programs illustrates the potential of subsidized produce prescriptions to increase consumption of nutritious fruits and vegetables, reduce food insecurity, and hopefully improve subjective and objective measures of health.”

In produce prescription programs, patients receive electronic cards or vouchers to access free or discounted produce at supermarkets or farmers markets, the authors explain.

The analysis, believed to be the largest study on the impact of produce prescriptions, included more than 3,800 participants in nine programs across the country. Almost half (1,817) were children with an average age of 9 years, while 2,064 were adults with an average age of 54 years. More than half of the households in the study reported experiencing food insecurity.

Participants received an average of $63 per month to purchase produce and completed questionnaires on fruit and vegetable consumption, food insecurity, and health status. Routine tests to check health status were also performed, but there was no control group to compare the results, a limitation of the study.

Still, the results suggest that producing prescriptions could be an important tool for improving health. For example, adults reported that their fruit and vegetable intake increased by almost a cup per day, and children’s intake increased by approximately a quarter cup per day. The odds of be food insecure it was also reduced by a third.

“Future research will need to include randomized controlled trials to offset any potential bias and more rigorously demonstrate the benefits of produce prescription programs,” Elkind added. “The American Heart Association’s new Food Is Medicine initiative will focus on supporting such trials.”