Nutrition is at the heart of many of the most important issues in our lives. From nourished children to vibrant aging, from social justice to sustainability, how we eat plays a major role in our health, our culture, and our happiness.
Yet, we rarely consider the tremendous economic impact of our food choices. Suboptimal nutrition is the leading cause of poor health in the United States and globally, principally related to chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, and several cancers. In many nations, the costs of healthcare dwarf other programs in the national budget. In the United States, nearly 1 in 5 dollars in the entire economy is spent on healthcare, much of which is related to preventable, diet-related conditions. In developing economies around the world, the growing burdens of diet-related chronic diseases threaten to derail economic growth and increase risk of global recession. Over the next 20 years, chronic diseases are predicted to cause more than $30 trillion of cumulative economic losses worldwide, owing to excess healthcare spending, reduced productivity, and lost capital investments.
Facing this global crisis of poor health and economic loss, governments are taking distressingly little action to improve the food system. Many nations still rely largely on education, dietary guidelines, and food labels, leaving consumers to fend for themselves, rather than fully utilizing more robust strategies such as quality standards, financial incentives for industry and the public, restrictions on marketing to children, and comprehensive, evidence-based school and workplace programs. While positive steps have been seen - for instance, improved school lunch guidelines in the US; and soda or junk food taxes in Mexico, the United Kingdom, and South Africa - progress remains slow and uneven.
In this relative void, companies have much to gain from creative solutions that improve dietary habits, support well-being, and reduce costs. Most large corporations subsidize their employees' healthcare premiums or are even self-insured, providing a direct incentive to improve the lifestyle habits of their workforce. Employees with healthier habits not only have far lower healthcare costs, but miss fewer days of work. Companies with strong wellness programs may also benefit from better recruitment, retention, and overall morale and productivity.
Insurance companies are a second major industry that should prioritize healthier eating. By incentivizing better lifestyles, health and life insurance companies can meaningfully improve their clients' health while improving their own bottom line, passing some of the savings back to their customers. In California, Kaiser Permanente has instituted a new "physical activity vital sign" in the electronic health record for millions of its members, providing a simple way to track and improve fitness and activity. Kaiser Permanente and other major health providers would greatly benefit from adding a similar "nutrition vital sign" to the electronic health record at every provider visit, as well as a more detailed annual "nutrition physical" in primary care, to allow tracking of and intervention on dietary habits. How can it be that dietary choices, the number one cause of poor health, are not measured or recorded by the health system? The irony is only exceeded by the toll on human and economic health.
The life insurance industry is also a natural ally for better eating. Life insurance companies often have a multi-decade connection to their customers, creating clear mutual incentives to improve lifestyles and well-being. Earlier this year, John Hancock launched their Vitality HealthyFood program, an expansion of the John Hancock Vitality solution, which offers savings and rewards to customers for their healthy behaviors. The HealthyFood program, the first of its kind in the United States, rewards customers for healthier eating with savings of up to $600/year on purchases of healthy foods. They can also earn program points that lead to lower annual life insurance premiums and other rewards. Importantly, John Hancock has collaborated with our School, the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University, to ensure that both their dietary targets and behavioral incentives are based on credible, trusted science. This innovative academic-industry collaboration should serve as a model for companies worldwide to take an active role in improving the dietary habits and health of their workforce and their customers, and in doing so, their own profitability.
Finally, trends over the past decade demonstrate that the food industry has much to gain from creating and marketing healthier products. Americans are making healthier choices, eating more nuts, whole grains, whole fruits, and yogurt, and fewer refined grains, white potatoes, and sugary beverages. Sales of soda and many packaged and processed foods are declining, while at the same time, many innovative companies are selling healthier food products - or at least products with an aura of healthfulness - and seeing tremendous growth. Clearly, the public has heard the message, and understands the crucial role of a good diet. From cafeterias to supermarkets to restaurants to food manufacturers, there is enormous profit to be made from healthier foods.
Shareholders, federal and local government, the media, and the public should strongly encourage these efforts toward better eating, whether led by major corporations, health and life insurance companies, or the food industry. It's also crucial that these efforts be guided by robust nutrition and policy science, informed by cutting-edge evidence being generated at our School and other universities.
At Tufts, we are delighted to be a part of this movement that can help people move beyond the conflicting messages and controversy of nutrition in the news and into a place of clarity about the best path to healthier living. Working together, we can transform our food system to achieve better health, better productivity, a stronger economy, more equity, longer lives, and lower costs.