Research
Adherence
Medically tailored groceries (MTG) and produce prescriptions improve diet quality and clinical markers (like HbA1c) in patients with diet-related chronic conditions.
If you have diabetes or heart disease and struggle to buy healthy food, ask your doctor about produce prescription programs or medically tailored groceries. These programs often provide vouchers or specific foods to help you manage your condition.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Increased diet quality, adherence to medication regimens... Decreased HbA1c in people with diabetes... Increased fruit and vegetable consumption
Why this rating
Based on RCTs and observational studies, though some data is from smaller pilot studies.
Source
Food is medicine: actions to integrate food and nutrition into healthcare
Sarah Downer et al. · BMJ · 2020
DOI 10.1136/bmj.m2482
narrative_reviewCited 412×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Integration of food and nutrition into healthcare systems requires sustainable funding, clinician education, and rigorous research to be effective and scalable.Good
- Medically tailored meals (MTM) for high-need patients with complex medical conditions reduce overall healthcare costs and hospital admissions.Moderate
Related findings · Adherence
- Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by 20-30% and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 25-35%.Strong
- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →