Prescriptions for healthy eating can save lives – and money

(Reuters Health) – New study suggests that healthy food prescriptions written for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries could reduce the risk of costly chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. while reducing the costs of care.

Prescriptions would even come with a 30% reduction on foods, including fruits and vegetables

According to a study published in PLoS Medicine, the researchers calculated that healthy eating prescriptions could prevent up to 3.28 million cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, and save up to 3,000. $ 100.2 billion in health care costs.

The people included in the simulations were between 35 and 80 years old and were enrolled in Medicare and / or Medicaid.

As part of the modeling, researchers used data from the last three national health and nutrition surveys (NHANES 2009-2014), as well as published sources and meta-badyzes including demographic information, dietary intakes, political effects, – the effects of the disease, the costs of the policies and the costs of health care.

Several hypotheses have been formulated in the modeling, including an estimate of the impact of a 30% reduction on patients' purchasing habits.

When researchers released their model with a prescription for fruits and vegetables, they estimated that 1.93 million cardiovascular events would be avoided and that $ 39.7 billion would be saved. When they used the broader prescription of healthy foods, they estimated that 3.28 million cardiovascular events and 120,000 cases of diabetes would be avoided and that $ 100.2 billion would be saved.

"Our results support the implementation and evaluation of healthy food prescriptions. . . improve the diet and health of Americans, "said researcher Yujin Lee, a postdoctoral fellow at the Friedman School of Science and Policy Nutrition at Tufts University in Boston.

"We discovered that a partial coverage of the cost of buying fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts / seeds, seafood and vegetable oils in Medicare and Medicaid would be extremely profitable – at about as much as the drug treatments for high cholesterol. high blood pressure, "Lee said.

Dr. Mylynda Mbadart welcomed the new discoveries.

"It's exciting that we finally have a conversation about this because it must happen," said Mbadart, director of the Primary Care Precision Medicine Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "It would be great to see money invested in an intervention that can improve the quality of life, reduce the burden of illness, and potentially reduce the cost."

While the findings of the study are based on a model rather than a real test, "it could convince people to spend money on research studies of real people from real communities," Mbadart said. . "It's part of the whole concept of precision medicine. People are born with a genetic predisposition to diseases that interact with environmental exposure. Risk factors are often modifiable. "

Mbadart said that she would enthusiastically embrace the concept if it could be proven during tests. "I would much prefer to prescribe a cucumber to a pharmaceutical product every day," she added.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2Y3w6OJ PLoS Medicine, online 19 March 2019.