People say “food is medicine” a lot, and I used to think it was just a saying. But the more I read, the more I think there’s real truth to it, especially when it comes to a program like SNAP.

SNAP is the food assistance program a lot of people know as food stamps. According to Johns Hopkins, people dealing with food insecurity often can’t afford healthy, nutrient-rich food, so they end up relying on cheaper, less nutritious options. Over time that’s linked to chronic diseases like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. So when families get help affording better food, it can actually lower their risk of getting sick.

This is one of those connections that seems obvious once you see it but doesn’t get talked about enough. We spend a ton of money treating diabetes and heart disease, but a big driver of those conditions is something as basic as whether people can afford good food. Helping someone eat better is a lot cheaper than treating the disease they get from eating poorly.

It also ties back to social determinants of health, which I wrote about earlier. Food access is one of those non-medical things that shapes our health way more than people realize. You can’t really separate someone’s diet from their income or their neighborhood.

What I find interesting is that a food program is technically not a healthcare program at all. It’s run through the agriculture side of the government. But its effects on health are huge. That tells me prevention isn’t just a doctor’s job. It’s spread across all kinds of programs that aren’t even labeled as healthcare.

So yeah, I think food can be medicine, at least in the sense that good nutrition prevents disease. The hard part is making sure everyone can actually get it.

Interesting Article I read: What Is SNAP? And Why Does It Matter? — Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health