Now, you and Maryn talked about doctors giving out these vouchers like prescriptions.
你和玛丽恩谈到了医生像开具处方一样发放这些代金券。
Yet medical insurance doesn’t pay for food, right?
但医疗保险不会报销食物,对吧?
So where does the money come from?
那购买食物的钱是从哪里来的呢?
That’s a good question. In Flint, Hanna-Attisha raises money from private charities.
这是个好问题。在弗林特,汉娜-阿提莎会从私人慈善机构筹集资金。
Nationally, big foundations are getting involved: the Rockefeller Foundation pledged $100 million, for instance.
全国有一些大型基金会正在参与进来:例如,洛克菲勒基金会承诺捐赠1亿美元。
And in 2022, the White House held a nutrition summit, and after that, federal agencies committed to spending $8 billion on nutrition programs.
2022年,白宫举行了营养峰会,从那之后,联邦机构承诺在营养项目上花费80亿美元。
That’s a lot of dough. Oh, you had to go there.
那可是一大笔钱。哦,你得去看看就知道了。
Sorry. Well, anyway, I’m still wondering, does this investment in nutrition actually lead to lower risk of disease?
抱歉。好吧,不管怎样,我还在想,这种对营养的投资真的会降低患病风险吗?
I did ask Maryn about that.
我确实问过玛丽恩这件事。
Yes, there are some studies that show positive effects in things like reducing hemoglobin A1C, reducing blood pressure, reducing body mass index.
可以降低,有一些研究表明,这种做法在降低血红蛋白A1C、降低血压、降低体重指数等方面有积极作用。
Higher A1C levels are a risk factor for diabetes.
较高的A1C水平是糖尿病的风险因素。
One of the stronger studies was just presented at an American Heart Association conference in March.
在刚刚过去的3月份,美国心脏协会会议公布了一项更有力的研究。
It looked at what happened in a free produce delivery program in Alameda County, California.
它观察了加利福尼亚州阿拉米达县的一个免费农产品递送项目的情况。
After a year, people getting the deliveries had lower A1C and less “bad” cholesterol than people who didn’t get the food delivered.
一年后,与没有接收货物的人相比,接受货物的人的A1C更低,坏胆固醇也更低。
Wow, interesting.
哇,有意思。
I know there have also been some studies that suggest certain diets can improve specific aspects of health.
我知道也有一些研究表明,某些饮食可以改善健康的某一方面。
There’s the DASH diet for high blood pressure.
有一种治疗高血压的DASH饮食。
It emphasizes fruit, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy.
它强调摄入水果、蔬菜、全谷物和低脂乳制品。
And it cuts out alcohol and foods with salt—the good stuff that is actually bad for you.
它还减少了酒精和加盐的食物--这些诱人的东西实际上对身体有害。
There was an analysis combining the results of several diet studies, and it turned out DASH significantly lowered blood pressure—even more than the Mediterranean diet, which lets you have salt and some red wine.
有一项分析结合了几项饮食研究的结果,发现DASH饮食显著降低了血压--甚至比地中海饮食更能降低血压,地中海饮食允许摄入盐和一些红酒。
But Maryn says there are not a lot of food-is-medicine studies like the one in California.
但玛丽恩说,像加州那样关于“食物就是药物”的研究并不多。
The enthusiasm for it is racing ahead of the evidence. And there probably are some good reasons for that.
人们对它的热情超过了客观证据。这可能也是人之常情。
First, it's just a really new concept to actually do this in a measurable medical way, as opposed to just bringing someone a pan of lasagna or a basket of fruit.
首先,它是一个很新的概念,可以以一种可测量的医学方式去实现,而不是仅仅给一个人端来一盘千层面或一篮子水果。
The second is that doing nutritional studies in free-living humans is really hard to do.
第二,在自由生活的人类身上进行营养研究真的很难。
As Maryn writes in her story, though, more studies are ramping up.
然而,正如玛丽恩在她的故事中所写的那样,更多的研究正在加紧进行。
The AHA is funding 19 new food-is-medicine research projects.
AHA正在资助19个新的“食物就是药物”研究项目。
And the National Institutes of Health has approval to start several research initiatives focused on the idea.
美国国立卫生研究院已经批准启动几项专注于这一想法的研究计划。
Food voucher programs have been around for decades, of course, mostly through the Department of Agriculture.
食品券计划已经落实了几十年,当然,主要是通过农业部去执行。
You can use them at local supermarkets.
它们能在当地的超市使用。
What makes this new effort different is that it empowers health care workers to prescribe healthy food rather than just vaguely advise people to eat healthier.
这项新努力的不同之处在于,它赋予卫生保健工作者开出健康食品的权力,而不仅仅是含糊其辞地建议人们吃得更健康。
People in this field say, well, we've been kind of hampered in what we were able to say to people beyond “Well, you should eat a healthier diet,” and then we send them out the door.
这一领域的从业人员说,除了对人们说“你应该吃更健康的饮食”,然后就把他们送出诊室之外,我们感觉自己能对患者说的话受到了限制。
Where food-is-medicine potentially takes this conversation is from “I think you should eat more lettuce and carrots, good luck, see you next year” to “I think you should be eating healthier food, and I have a specific intervention that can help you do that.
“食物就是药物”把这场对话从“我觉得你应该多吃生菜和胡萝卜,祝你好运,回头见”变成了“我觉得你应该吃更健康的食物,我有一个具体的干预措施可以帮助你做到这一点。
I can sign you up for a program that will bring you dinner four nights a week for a month.
我可以帮你报名参加一个项目,这个项目将在一个月内每周四晚给你提供晚餐。
Let's see if that makes a difference to your bloodwork.”
我们看看这对你的血检结果有没有影响。”
And if these interventions are convincing, maybe they’ll make a difference in something else: making insurance companies pay for good food—and good health.
如果这些干预措施令人信服,也许它们会在其他方面发挥作用:让保险公司为良好的食物和健康买单。