Scaling Food Is Medicine Solutions: A Conversation with Holly Freishtat

On a recent episode of Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg, Dani sat down with Holly Freishtat, Senior Director of Feeding Change at the Milken Institute, to explore the rapidly growing movement around solutions that view Food Is Medicine. What it will take to bring these solutions to scale.

As rates of diet-related diseases continue to climb, there’s a surge of interest in using food as a therapeutic tool, not just a preventive measure. Freishtat, with her background in public health and food systems, emphasizes that while Food Is Medicine solutions show tremendous promise, they are not a silver bullet. Instead, they are a critical component of a more holistic treatment plan. Working in concert with traditional medicine, policy changes, and community-based approaches rooted in Food Is Medicine Solutions.

One key opportunity Freishtat highlights is the role of pharmacists. With their existing infrastructure and trusted relationships with patients, pharmacists could be powerful allies in delivering food-based interventions. This happens through medically tailored meals, produce prescriptions, or nutrition counseling. Food Is Medicine Solutions can be applied through these methods.

However, the path to scaling these programs is not without obstacles. Among the biggest challenges: ensuring sustainable funding models, gathering robust data and outcomes to prove effectiveness, and building the cross-sector collaborations needed to reach people where they are—especially in marginalized communities. Solutions that integrate the concept of Food Is Medicine are crucial here.

Freishtat and Nierenberg also underscore the importance of changing mindsets. For solutions categorised as Food Is Medicine to gain real traction, it requires a cultural shift in how we view our food including raw nuts and other raw ingredients. Not just as fuel or enjoyment, but as integral to health care.