Food Is Medicine, a new book by Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, offers a blueprint to transform food and farming systems in a way that heals people, the economy, and the planet.
“Being a healthy American adult is an anomaly,” says Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and Director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University. He notes that 94 percent of people in the U.S. over the age of 18 are “not where they should be” in terms of cardiovascular and metabolic health.
The food system is “the top cause of death and disability in the country,” Mozaffarian tells Food Tank. “This is the top cause of preventable healthcare spending. This is the top cause of devastation to our oceans, soil, water, and climate. And if you put it all together, this is actually the top issue facing humanity.”
His new book addresses these challenges, acknowledging their complexity. It also outlines the solutions available, revealing how the growing Food is Medicine movement can help communities produce and consume food in a way that supports public health and the environment.
“We have the science and the evidence on what needs to change,” Mozaffarian tells Food Tank. “And we really can fix our food system in a very short amount of time.”
Mozaffarian also wants readers to understand a shift in diet shouldn’t be viewed in terms of sacrifice. For too long, he says, nutrition has been framed “in terms of deprivation and a fight against food.” He hopes the book will help people see things differently. “For me, healthy eating is about embracing and celebrating the good, more minimally processed, healthy, delicious foods.”
Food Is Medicine is for healthcare providers, policymakers, and business leaders. “But at the end of the day,” Mozaffarian says, “this is for the general public to understand the levers we need to shift and move so that 10 years from now, we’re not having the same conversation.”
Listen to the full conversation with Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian on Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg to hear more about Food Is Medicine: Healing Our Bodies, Nourishing Our Minds, and Transforming Our Food System, tips for eating healthy, and why the solutions we need come down to systems change rather than individual behavior change alone.
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Photo courtesy of David Trinks, Unsplash
