Evidence mounts: Medically tailored meals improve health outcomes and lower total cost of care

ANKENY, Iowa, Dec. 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — As the nation faces rising chronic disease rates and accelerating health care costs, a new peer-reviewed white paper featured in MDI Healthcare spotlights the critical role of food as medicine in improving outcomes for high-risk individuals. The analysis, supported by insights from Mom’s Meals^®, shows medically tailored meals can reduce hospitalizations, lower emergency department use, and lower the total cost of care, which reveals evidence of widening action gaps in how these nutrition solutions are applied.

“We talk a lot about food as medicine, but this white paper shows how medically tailored meals really makes this concept a reality,” said lead author Catherine Macpherson, MS, RDN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nutrition Officer at Mom’s Meals. “Health care rarely offers an intervention that improves clinical outcomes and reduces costs at the same time. As health care costs continue to climb, expanding access to a solution that does both should be a priority.”

Rising costs, growing need and a clear opportunity for food as medicine
The white paper synthesizes a broad body of research showing how nutrition interventions can strengthen care for individuals with complex health needs. It highlights the outsized role that diet-related diseases play in the nation’s $4.5 trillion in annual health care spending and points to medically tailored meals as one of the most well-studied approaches within the food as medicine landscape. Despite this depth of evidence, access remains inconsistent, creating gaps for individuals who could benefit from additional nutrition support.

The findings outline an opportunity to integrate medically tailored meals more consistently into care delivery. Doing so can help care teams support individuals living with chronic and nutrition-sensitive conditions, improve nutrition security for medically vulnerable populations, reduce preventable utilization and contribute to more sustainable health care spending.

“This paper adds to a growing body of evidence showing how clinically tailored nutrition can support better outcomes for people managing chronic conditions,” said Chris Choi, Chief Executive Officer of Mom’s Meals. “Broader access to medically tailored meals can strengthen care for individuals managing chronic conditions and help reduce strain on the health care system.”

About the white paper
The article, “Medically Tailored Meals: A Case for Federal Policy Action,” is published in Healthcare (Vol. 13, Issue 22) and is available open-access at: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/13/22/2899.

About Mom’s Meals 
Mom’s Meals provides the most comprehensive food as medicine solutions nationwide and is setting the standard in the food as medicine space with real-world results. Our nutrition solutions are designed for all ages to bring comfort and inspire confidence in people seeking to live healthier, manage chronic conditions, recover from illness and continue to live independently. Our integrated solutions include medically tailored meals, produce and pantry boxes, oral nutrition supplements and shelf-stable, kosher and halal meals, backed by nutrition counseling and education. At Mom’s Meals, our mission is to improve lives through better nutrition at home through our long-term care, condition management, post-discharge and nutrition insecurity programs. For more information, visit www.momsmeals.com. 

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SOURCE Mom’s Meals