Adherence

Food Is Medicine (FIM) interventions, including produce prescriptions and medically tailored meals, show promise in improving diet quality and food security, but current evidence is insufficient to definitively establish their effectiveness on clinical outcomes or cost savings due to small sample sizes and lack of randomized controlled trials.

To improve health through diet, simply knowing what to eat is often not enough due to structural barriers like cost and access. Food Is Medicine programs attempt to bridge this gap by providing healthy food directly (via vouchers or meals) alongside healthcare. While these programs show promise in improving diet quality, they are not yet proven to significantly reduce clinical events or healthcare costs due to limited high-quality research. Patients should look for programs that integrate food provision with healthcare support, especially if they face food insecurity.