Can food be medicine? Will insurers cover it? And other big questions about a new health movement

WASHINGTON — After nearly 40 years of obscurity, the “food is medicine” movement is having a moment.

Multiple federal agencies are working on food is medicine projects, major organizations have pledged hundreds of millions in research funding, and billions more are being invested in food-focused startups. Even the White House has publicly announced its support for the movement, which focuses on the use of healthy food as a medical intervention for certain chronic and diet-related diseases.

“We are at the inflection point,” said Dariush Mozaffarian, the dean for policy at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. “Five or six years ago I would go to major health care organizations and talk about food [is] medicine and I’d get blank stares, crickets, and polite emails.”

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