Pharmacists Help Importance of Food Is Medicine for American Heart Month

Every February, the United States observes American Heart Month, a tradition that began in 1964 when President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first proclamation to spotlight cardiovascular disease. As the medical community marks the 60th anniversary of this observance, a nutrition continues to emerge in the fight against heart disease, moving the focus from emergency intervention to prevention.¹

What was once a grassroots public health slogan, Food Is Medicine, has matured into a sophisticated clinical service and a burgeoning marketplace. At the center of this transformation is an often-overlooked professional: the pharmacist.

“When we talk about Food Is Medicine, it started as a movement, and the movement has a long trajectory. It started years and years ago, and what we've seen is the movement has moved into a marketplace,” Holly Freishtat, the senior director of Feeding Change at the Milken Institute, said. “This is where the conversation we're having today is also about the role of the pharmacist.”

She explains that although it began as a movement led by nonprofits, it has now evolved into a structured part of clinical care where pharmacists, due to their accessibility and the high degree of trust they command, are poised to make nutritional interventions a cornerstone of chronic disease management.

What Does Food Is Medicine Actually Mean?

Although general wellness focuses on broad dietary patterns, Food Is Medicine interventions are specifically integrated into clinical care and are disease specific, Freishtat emphasized. These interventions typically fall into 3 buckets: medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, and produce prescriptions. Each of these is designed not just for sustenance but as a therapeutic agent to promote health and combat specific ailments like hypertension, diabetes, and heart failure.

Medically tailored meals are perhaps the most intensive intervention, often utilized for patients with complex chronic conditions who are unable to shop or cook for themselves. Medically tailored groceries provide a selection of healthy foods that align with a patient’s specific treatment plan, and produce prescriptions allow clinicians to provide vouchers for fresh fruits and vegetables.

“Nutrition and food have always been preventative, but we needed to make sure it's a part of covered care and the insurance network,” Freishtat said. “That's why the food is medicine.”

The core philosophy, as highlighted by the Columbia Institute of Human Nutrition, recognizes the connection between diet and physiological processes, utilizing food’s therapeutic potential to bolster immune response, support cellular function, and reduce the risk of chronic illnesses.²

Anna Lin-Schweitzer, associate director with Feeding Change, emphasizes that this is a whole care journey where food is embedded within the health care system to complement, rather than replace, traditional pharmacotherapy.

“Food is integrated within other disease management and other prevention practices that are part of a person's whole care journey that it's not just a standalone food service. It's embedded within the health care system and other health care services,” Lin-Schweitzer said. “It's not replacing medication. It's really going alongside the clinical pieces, as well as the nutrition.”

From Movement to Marketplace

The historical roots of nutrition in public health were almost entirely focused on prevention, Freishtat added. Programs like SNAP-Ed and community-based gardening or cooking classes have existed for years, but they were rarely viewed as formal medical services that could be reimbursed through an insurance network. Freishtat noted that she has always seen nutrition as preventative, but the landscape changed about 5 years ago. This was when the shift from a movement to a marketplace truly began, as insurers and payers started recognizing food as a covered benefit.

Today, food is increasingly incorporated into treatment plans, moving from the hands of community organizations into the clinical workflows of retailers and pharmacies. The 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health issued a national call to action to end hunger and reduce chronic disease by 2030, sparking increased federal investment in Food Is Medicine approaches.³

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has since developed a federal strategy to reduce nutrition-related chronic diseases, recognizing that an unhealthy diet is a primary driver of the 678,000 deaths that occur annually in the US due to diet-related conditions, according to data from 2025. With the US health care system spending $173 billion annually on obesity alone, the economic imperative to transition food from a suggestion to a prescription has never been clearer.^2,3

The Growing Role of the Pharmacist

Pharmacists are emerging as the essential linchpin that connects patients to these nutritional resources. Approximately 90% of Americans live within 5 miles of a pharmacy, making it the most accessible point in the health care system, according to Lin-Schweitzer.

“We really try to think about how the improving nutrition can really help reduce the number of prescriptions a person might have to rely on as well,” Lin-Schweitzer said. “There's both that short-term ease for the patient of kind of streamlining their care in one place but also thinking longer term as well.”

This high volume of touchpoints provides a unique opportunity to identify nutritional needs and reinforce healthy messaging. As Lin-Schweitzer noted, when the message regarding the importance of nutrition comes from a trusted pharmacist, it carries significant weight.

"If it's coming from their pharmacist…that's a really powerful message to the patient that both of these things are really important,” Lin-Schweitzer said.

The pharmacy itself is being reimagined as a natural health and food hub, especially those collocated within grocery stores, Lin-Schweitzer added. This one-stop shop model allows a patient to pick up their hypertensive medication and their produce prescription in a single trip, streamlining a process that might otherwise feel like an overwhelming chore.

For stand-alone pharmacies or those in food deserts, the role is even more critical. In these areas, where patients might have to drive over 10 miles to reach a grocery store, the pharmacist might be the only consistent health care professional available. Here, the pharmacist can act as a bridge, connecting patients to emerging delivery partners who can bring medically tailored meals or produce boxes directly to the patient's doorstep.

“Pharmacists visit their patients,” Lin-Schweitzer said. “Patients visit their pharmacists 1.5 to 2 times more often than their other health care professionals, and that's almost doubled in rural areas.”

This allows the pharmacist to pair their expertise in medication management with a tangible nutritional intervention that bypasses the geographic barriers of a food desert. Furthermore, new strategies for screening are making it easier for pharmacists to intervene. Pharmacists are using digital prompts at checkout or QR codes that allow patients to fill out questionnaires privately. In many cases, the pharmacist may not even need to screen explicitly; they can identify eligibility for Food Is Medicine programs through existing data in their system, such as a patient's Medicaid plan or specific medication profile.

Conclusion

The vision for the future of pharmacy is one where food and medication work in perfect synergy to manage chronic disease. This is particularly relevant when considering patients discharged from the hospital after a cardiac event. Currently, a patient often leaves with a stack of new prescriptions but little support for the dietary changes required to prevent readmission, according to Freishtat.

In a Food Is Medicine model, the hospital discharge would trigger a coordinated response where the pharmacist is alerted to the patient's new medication profile while a delivery service provides medically tailored meals to their home. As the patient moves past the acute recovery phase, the pharmacist can then transition them toward produce prescriptions or enrollment in federal programs like SNAP, ensuring a continuum of care that keeps the patient out of the hospital, Freishtat noted.

Freishtat said that when the Milken Institute released its first Food Is Medicine stakeholder map years ago, pharmacists were notably absent, often viewed as an afterthought in the nutritional landscape. However, by 2024 and looking toward 2026, the sentiment has shifted entirely. Pharmacists are now an essential role in this Food Is Medicine framework.

By integrating food-based therapies into their practice, pharmacists are not just dispensing pills; they are addressing the root causes of disease and helping to reduce the financial burden of chronic illness in America. As American Heart Month continues, the evolution of the pharmacy into a comprehensive health and food hub offers a hopeful vision for a nation where food can help treat chronic diseases.

“The pharmacist is now deeply embedded into this whole stakeholder relationship, whereas years ago, they were sort of an afterthought to some,” she said. “Now there is no debate.”

READ MORE: Cardiology Resource Center

Are you ready to elevate your pharmacy practice? Sign up today for our free Drug Topics newsletter and get the latest drug information, industry trends, and patient care tips straight to your inbox.

REFERENCES

1. American Heart Association. American Heart Month. Accessed February 19, 2026. 2026.

2. Columbia University. What Does Food is Medicine Mean?. June 30, 2025. Accessed February 19, 2026. https://www.ihn.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/what-does-food-medicine-mean

3. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Food Is Medicine: A Project to Unify and Advance Collective Action. Accessed February 19, 2026. https://odphp.health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/food-medicine