Fruits and Vegetables Officially Prescribed by Doctors
We are all familiar with doctors giving us a pill to pop. But now doctors in a new New York City-based program are making fresh fruits and vegetables their prescription for overweight and obese patients. Unveiled Tuesday, the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program is designed to provide at-risk individuals better access to healthy foods, reported NPR.
Obese and overweight people can obtain Health Bucks, which they cash in for produce at one of roughly 140 New York City farmers markets, under the GrowNYC campaign, an effort to provide locally grown fruits and vegetables to low-income New York families.
Based on partnerships between healthcare institutions and community food providers, FVRx believes in the importance of increasing consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables to improve the health of children at risk for diet-related disorders such as diabetes and heart disease. It also aims to give an economic boost to small and midsize farmers, creating much-needed resources for local underserved economies.
Participants in the program are granted $1 worth of Health Bucks each day per person in their family for a period of four to six months. Patients visit the hospital monthly to check in and get their prescriptions renewed and their weight and body mass index assessed. During the check-in, the participants also undergo nutritional counseling.
Bronx resident Tammy Futch believes her family has greatly benefitting from enrolling in the program.
“My son lost 40 pounds [being on] this program,” she said, “and also I lost weight doing it with him. ... I have four other kids also doing the program.”
The Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program was initiated by Wholesome Wave, a charity that creates access for low-income families to locally produced fresh food. Two years ago, the nonprofit tested the program in locations in Massachusetts, Maine, California and Rhode Island. Today, it operates programs in seven states. This summer, the Bronx’s Lincoln Medical Center and Harlem Hospital Center joined the program, making themselves the first locations in the state of New York to participate.
Dr. Shefali Khanna, chief of pediatrics at Lincoln Medical Center, is hopeful the new initiative will benefit families and the city alike. “We're not only teaching them just about eating healthy,” Khanna said. “This is really an investment for the future. And we hope we have a whole generation of kids who benefit from this, and reach adulthood at a healthy optimal weight.”