A recent study spearheaded by MIT gives food for thought on the popular concept of 'food as medicine' in the fight against diabetes, revealing mixed outcomes. Joseph Doyle, a health care economist from MIT Sloan School, and his team observed a slight edge in blood sugar reduction among participants who received healthy meals specifically tailored for diabetes management over six months, as detailed in a paper published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
In this randomized clinical trial, 465 adults living with Type 2 diabetes were either provided with food to make 10 nutritious meals weekly or were left to their usual diets; the difference in blood sugar level improvement between the two groups was marginal, casting doubt on the effectiveness of the program, which aimed not only to combat diabetes but also to address food insecurity. "We found that when people gained access to [got food from] the program, their blood sugar did fall, but the control group had an almost identical drop," Doyle told MIT News, expressing the need for further research to uncover more effective methods of integrating nutrition into health care systems.
The study, which ran from 2019 to 2022, partnered with a large Mid-Atlantic health care provider and featured two locations — one urban and the other rural. Participants had the chance to consult nutritionists and nurses, suggesting a high level of medical engagement which might have benefited the control group and contributed to their improvement being akin to those receiving the specialized meals, Doyle noted in the report.
Proponents of these 'food-as-medicine' interventions are left grappling with the fact that, despite high adherence rates to the program, the changes were not as significant as hoped, hinting that factors like the normal fluctuation of blood sugar levels and other lifestyle adjustments could have played a role in the results besides simply the food provided. Doyle suggests the pandemic might have influenced the outcomes, or the full benefits might manifest over a longer period than the study covered. Moreover, Doyle is interested in testing if providing premade meals would result in greater improvements, saying, "Experimenting with providing those premade meals seems like a natural next step," emphasizing the significance of continuing research in this domain.
Funded by entities including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and MIT Sloan Health Systems Initiative, this study underscores the complexity of managing chronic illnesses such as diabetes through nutritional interventions. With nearly one in ten adults fighting diabetes, according to the paper, the quest to refine and enhance health programs continues, fueled by insights such as those from Doyle and his colleagues' efforts.
