“Prescribe” fruits and vegetables New research has linked both adults and children to increased intake of these foods and multiple health benefits.
This analysis was published in the peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association. Circulation, investigating people at high risk for cardiovascular disease who participated in an produce prescription program for an average of 6 months, found that they had increased fruit and vegetable intake. The researchers found that the changes were associated with improvements in BMI, blood sugar and blood pressure levels, as well as weight loss. Food insecurity.
“Undernutrition and nutritional insecurity include cardiometabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular consequences such as heart failure, heart attack and stroke,” said Mitchell Elkind, M.D., chief clinical scientific officer of the American Heart Association. It is the leading cause of chronic disease worldwide.” A tenured professor of neurology and epidemiology at Columbia University said: news release. “This analysis of produce prescription programs highlights the potential for subsidized produce prescriptions to increase consumption of nutritious fruits and vegetables, reduce food insecurity, and hopefully improve subjective and objective health measures. showing gender.”
In the produce prescription program, patients receive electronic cards or coupons that give them access to free or discounted produce at grocery stores and farmers’ markets, the authors explain.
This analysis is believed to be the largest study of the impact of produce formulations, involving more than 3,800 participants across nine programs nationwide. Nearly half (1,817) were children with a mean age of 9 years and 2,064 were adults with a mean age of 54 years. More than half of the households surveyed reported experiencing food insecurity.
Participants received a median of $63 per month for produce purchases and completed questionnaires on fruit and vegetable consumption, food insecurity, and health status. Routine examinations were also performed to check health status, but the lack of a control group with which to compare results was a limitation of the study.
Still, the results suggest that agricultural product formulation may be an important tool for improving health. For example, adults reported an increase in fruit and vegetable intake by nearly one cup per day, and children by about a quarter cup per day.probability of food insecurity also decreased by one-third.
“Future studies should include randomized controlled trials to offset potential biases and more rigorously prove the benefits of agricultural formulary programs,” Elkind added. “The American Heart Association’s new Food Is Medicine initiative will focus on supporting such clinical trials.”
