Food Is Medicine: The Healthcare Cost of Poor Nutrition and the ROI of Fresh Food

Remember that old saying, “we are what we eat”? In America today, the leading cause of death and disease isn’t genetic; it's dietary.

Nine out of ten of the nation’s $4.5 trillion in annual healthcare expenditures go toward treating chronic diseases. And the majority of those conditions, like heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and certain cancers, are directly tied to what we eat. Poor nutrition is not just a personal health issue; it’s a systemic, economic crisis.

Making big strides is the Food Is Medicine (FIM) movement, a growing effort to reintegrate food into the formal healthcare system. This movement is about using food as a clinically prescribed intervention to prevent, treat, and manage chronic disease.

The challenge here is access, and Fork Farms is built on providing more access to fresh food. If healthcare organizations are to take food seriously as medicine, they must first solve the logistical problem that’s held them back, which is how to source fresh, nutritious produce consistently, affordably, and at scale.

That’s where Fork Farms and our hydroponic growing systems shine.

The U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other nation, and yet, our outcomes lag. Why? Because we spend most of our resources treating disease, not preventing it. 

Here are some health facts to consider from the CDC:

• More than 100 million Americans suffer from diabetes or pre-diabetes
• One in two adults has high blood pressure
• More than 600,000 people die from heart disease each year.
  
  

All of these conditions are deeply influenced by nutrition.

These diseases are expensive, both for individuals and the healthcare system. Hospitalizations, medications, and emergency visits drain billions from public and private budgets. And because these conditions disproportionately affect low-income populations, the economic cost is compounded by a moral one.

Research shows that Food Is Medicine interventions work—and they save money.

• A 2019 study in Health Affairs found that providing medically tailored meals reduced hospitalizations by 50% and healthcare costs by 16% per patient.
• Another study showed that food prescriptions could save the U.S. healthcare system $100 billion over 10 years.
  
  

But, we face a big problem in the U.S. - healthy food is often the hardest thing to access in communities facing food insecurity and health disparities. Fresh, healthy food is perishable, expensive to transport, and hard to source on a consistent basis, especially at the volume required for clinical use.

The Flex Farm from Fork Farms offers a new approach. It’s a modular, high-efficiency hydroponic system designed to grow fresh, leafy greens and herbs on-site, all year long. Hospitals, community health centers, payers, and even long-term care facilities can now grow their own fresh produce, where it’s needed most.

This is more than a feel-good initiative. It’s a cost-saving, value-creating innovation.

By reducing the need for third-party suppliers and complex distribution channels, the Flex Farm cuts the cost of produce over time, reduces waste from spoilage or transport delays, and increases access to ultra-fresh, high-nutrient foods for patients, staff, and communities.

And because the Flex Farm is scalable, healthcare systems can start with one unit and expand to meet growing demand or integrate it into community partnerships. Also, for larger-scale commercial situations, our Flex Acre is a revolutionary commercial hydroponic system that leverages ground-breaking controlled agriculture technology to reduce barriers for anyone to grow food affordably and at scale. It brings high efficiency to the large-scale farm, and feeds people onsite with minimal distribution, significantly reducing operational costs and transportation. Each Flex Acre is a growing system 9 feet high,9 feet long, and 3 feet wide. Learn more about our family of products here to find out what’s best for you. 

Healthcare systems are shifting toward value-based care, where reimbursement is tied to patient outcomes. That means the incentives are aligned: when people stay healthier, the system saves money.

Investing in fresh food is simply a smart business decision. At Fork Farms, we’re helping healthcare organizations turn nutrition into a measurable, repeatable, scalable part of care delivery. The Flex Farm and Flex Acre are not just tools for growing food; they reduce costs, improve outcomes, and strengthen community health one harvest at a time. When food is medicine, growing your own is just good economics.

Check back to learn how Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) enables food to be medicine in our next post in our Food as Medicine Series.