‘Care Talk’ Examines CNS and SPHHS’s Battle Against Food Insecurity in Springfield, MA
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Among those with chronic diseases, mitigating food insecurity is crucial to improving health outcomes. Consistent access to nutritious food helps to effectively manage conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. This can be especially true in lower-income communities such as Springfield, MA, where access to fresh produce and other healthy food is cost-prohibitive.
In an attempt to address food insecurity and improve health outcomes in the region, the Center for Research on Families at UMass’s College of Natural Sciences (CNS) and the School of Public Health & Health Sciences (SPHHS) are collaborating with community partners in Springfield to implement a “produce prescription” program, in which people with variable food security are given access to fruits and vegetables.
This approach offers several important benefits:
- Public Health Improvement. Nutrient-dense foods are crucial for managing one’s health and can potentially reduce hospital visits and long-term healthcare costs.
- Chronic Disease Management. Scientific research has shown that diet plays a key role in managing chronic conditions, and ensuring access to nutritious food can improve patient outcomes.
- Behavioral and Lifestyle Changes. Encouraging the consumption of fresh produce can lead to long-term lifestyle changes, and this effort can be used to study the effectiveness of food-based interventions.
To learn more about the concept of produce prescriptions, Valley Free Radio’s Care Talk—hosted by Dr. Bill Cutler and Dr. Evan Benjamin, who teaches Comparative Healthcare Systems as an adjunct professor at SPHHS—spoke with SPHHS’s Dean Siega-Riz and CNS’s Lorraine Cordeiro, two driving forces behind the program. A professor in the Department of Nutrition at SPHHS and director of the Center for Research on Families in CNS, Cordeiro’s research focuses on food security, adolescent and women’s health, and high-poverty zones.
“We've seen in the literature, and we know from what people have said in communities that worrying about accessing food—including the cyclical nature of SNAP benefit utilization—is a major concern,” Cordeiro stated. “That worry alone is a huge driver of food insecurity.”
During the show, Cordeiro suggests that, though Massachusetts has been proactive in addressing this issue, insecurity for food (let alone healthy food) persists: “While we have a very—I would say—a rich environment and a state that does emphasize, appreciate, and value the services that they're trying to provide to everyday citizens, there is really a need here to be able to increase people's sense of security around food and their ability to eat healthy food. I think that's key.”
Dr. Siega-Riz has initiated a collaborative cross-campus dialogue known as the Food is Medicine initiative, which benefits from a diverse committee that includes: faculty from departments such as Nutrition and Food Science; Dean Vorderstrasse and faculty from the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing; staff from the Center for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (CAFE); and Dining Services. This interdisciplinary group received support from the Large-scale Integrative Research Awards (LIRA) program to help secure extramural funding aimed at advancing Food is Medicine efforts at UMass Amherst.
Click here to listen to Professor Cordeiro and Dean Siega-Riz on Care Talk.