In a world awash with mass-produced, highly processed high-caloric food, the cheapest option is often an unhealthy one. Add rampant wealth inequality , mix in the many factors plaguing the U.S.
health care system, and you have a recipe for obesity and other diet-related illnesses. But a new study from Northeastern University shows that adding regular food pantry access to primary clinical care can stop the progression of some diet-related chronic illnesses. "Partnerships with food banks could be the next preventative medicine model," says John Lowrey, assistant professor of supply chain and information management at Northeastern's D'Amore-McKim School of Business and Bouvé College of Health Sciences.
"Primary care partnerships with food pantries help stabilize health outcomes ." Approximately 44 million Americans are food insecure, meaning they don't have enough food to eat or don't have access to healthy food . At the same time, two in five American adults, and one in five American children, are obese .
To look into both issues, Lowrey partnered with the Mid-Ohio Farmacy, a collaboration across the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, a network of over 650 affiliated food pantries and a large federally qualified health center. The health center offers primary and preventative health care services across eight free clinics that are co-located with the food pantries. Patients were screened for food insecurity during their clinic visit and, if positive, were referred to the Farmacy.
Low.
