The Healthcare Policy Podcast ®  Produced by David Introcaso
The Healthcare Policy Podcast ® Produced by David Introcaso
Ms. Alyson Rosenthal Discusses Food As Medicine
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Ms. Alyson Rosenthal Discusses Food As Medicine

Nutritionist Alyson Rosenthal discussed NYC's West Side Campaign Against Hunger's Efforts to Address Marked Increases in Hunger and Malnutrition

In the recent past, hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition have (re)gained policymakers’ interest largely due to the COVID pandemic and accelerating climate breakdown – that has among other things reduced the growth of global agricultural production by 30-35%.  As a result, last year 2.8 billion of the world’s population could not afford a healthy diet.  In the US, over 40 million Americans receive food assistance via the federal Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP) in large part because grocery prices have increased by over 20% since 2021.  Poor diet has long been known to be responsible for innumerable causes of disability and death.  For example, the number of states with an obesity rate at or above 35% doubled over the past five years to 19.  One in 10 Americans have diabetes and one in three will be diagnosed with cancer, both of which are related to poor diet.  Diet-related diseases also help explain high US COVID morbidity and mortality rates.   

Information concerning West Side Campaign Against Hunger’s efforts is at: https://www.wscah.org/.

Recently published research regarding the association between food security, health and dietary factors discussed during this interview is at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10857290/.

Discussion about this podcast

The Healthcare Policy Podcast ®  Produced by David Introcaso
The Healthcare Policy Podcast ® Produced by David Introcaso
Podcast interviews with health policy experts on timely subjects.
The Healthcare Policy Podcast website features audio interviews with healthcare policy experts on timely topics.
An online public forum routinely presenting expert healthcare policy analysis and comment is lacking. While other healthcare policy website programming exists, these typically present vested interest viewpoints or do not combine informed policy analysis with political insight or acumen. Since healthcare policy issues are typically complex, clear, reasoned, dispassionate discussion is required. These podcasts will attempt to fill this void.
Among other topics this podcast will address:
Implementation of the Affordable Care Act
Other federal Medicare and state Medicaid health care issues
Federal health care regulatory oversight, moreover CMS and the FDA
Healthcare research
Private sector healthcare delivery reforms including access, reimbursement and quality issues
Public health issues including the social determinants of health
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Comments made by the interviewees are strictly their own and do not represent those of their affiliated organization/s.