Eating good is doing good
Food for thought from the American Heart Association
As the American Heart Association (AHA) celebrates a century of healing and hope, it’s time to ask what the next 100 years of health might look like. In a new report by the AHA in collaboration with Deloitte and Research! America, we explore the significant role that food and “food nutrition insecurity”—the state of lacking regular access to safe, nutritious food—will play in our future, and how it will affect our health, our health care, our economy, our society, our people, and our planet.
Food health challenges
Food health approaches
Future food systems technologies and innovations
By adopting advanced, sustainable processes and championing technological innovations like artificial intelligence (AI), we can meet our increasing food demands, enhance food safety, improve operational efficiency, decrease environmental impact, expand access to nutritious foods, and create new economic opportunities.
Ecosystem restoration and regeneration
Maintaining environmental health can create a durable, flexible food supply system. Plus, the annual economic benefits from land restoration and emissions reduction fall in the range of $125 trillion to $140 trillion.1
Health-based initiatives
Urge food retailers and processors to commit to healthier product lines, integrate nutritional health into our health care systems, improve food labeling, champion presidential advisory programs such as “Food Is Medicine,” and encourage health providers to expand their role in food-related health promotion.
Stronger policies
Shift the focus away from food availability alone and focus on policies that enable nutrition security, quality, affordability, accessibility, and stability.
Consumer engagement
By prioritizing health in their lifestyle and consumption choices, consumers can create demand for healthier products, nurture resilient local food systems, address rural and urban supply dynamics, help reduce our agricultural footprint, and make a lasting contribution to a health-focused food system.
1 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Biodiversity: Finance and the economic and business case for action (Paris: OECD Publishing, 2019).
Food of the future
As we continue to explore the relationships between food nutrition security, public health, and environmental impact, every stakeholder—past, present, and future—has an important role to play in creating systemic change that improves the health and well-being of future generations.
Possible strategies include:
- Expand the role of food in health care
- Invite active participation to help shape consumption habits
- Build resilient food infrastructures that benefit both urban and rural communities
- Address current inadequacies through equitable practices
- Promote sustainable practices
- Highlight the importance of innovation in achieving health-focused food systems
- Encourage investment in integrated programs that cascade benefits throughout food and health care systems
