Can food be medicine? Health is shaped by far more than what happens in a doctor’s office

DALLAS – Human health is shaped by far more than what happens in a doctor’s office. Research estimates that as much as 80% to 90% of health outcomes are influenced by factors outside of medical care – including diet, physical activity and other everyday habits.

Yet food, one of the most powerful drivers of health, is rarely treated as medicine.

That idea came into focus at a panel hosted this week by the Dallas Morning News during its pop-up newsroom at the DEC Network in Red Bird, part of the newspaper’s Trust Initiative.

“Beyond the Doctor’s Office: Nourishing Health from the Inside Out” brought together experts from UT Southwestern Medical Center, Children’s Health, Parkland Health and Methodist Health System to discuss how food can help prevent and manage disease – particularly given the links between food insecurity and chronic illness.

The panelists also addressed practical ways people can incorporate healthier habits into their lives. The Dallas Morning News’ health reporter Emily Brindley moderated the panel.

The concept of food as medicine isn’t new, said Dr. Jaclyn Albin, an internist and director of UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Culinary Medicine Program.

The movement gained traction in the 1980s, when medically tailored meals were provided to patients with advanced HIV during the AIDS epidemic.

“They found that people who were delivered healthy meals … stayed out of the hospital,” Albin said. “They lived longer. They felt better. Imagine that, a healthy meal helps you heal. It brings longevity and comfort in a sickness.”

Studies have found that improving access to nutritious food – whether through medically tailored meals or programs that provide fresh produce – can help manage diet-related conditions such as heart disease, which claims about 2,500 lives each day in the United States.

While eating healthier might sound simple, it can feel daunting – or even unappealing – for someone who hasn’t had positive experiences with foods often labeled as “healthy.”

Milette Siler, a culinary dietitian nutritionist and co-founder of UT Southwestern’s Culinary Medicine Program, said it’s important to consider people’s financial access to food as well as their emotional and cultural connections to it, focusing not on taking foods away but on adding nutritious ingredients and enhancing flavor.

“Is there a way to take maybe an ultra-processed food that is what you can afford right now,” Siler said, “and add some value to it with some foods that, while they might also be processed, are convenient and inexpensive to add nutrition?”

Part of that strategy involves scrutinizing nutrition labels not so much for additives, although these chemicals added to preserve food can affect health and are important to keep in mind, Siler said.

Instead, she recommends focusing on a few key markers of nutrient density, such as protein, dietary fiber, sugar and sodium.

“Every food is going to have drawbacks because it’s grown in a world that is not perfect,” Siler said. “So helping people understand it’s a teeter-totter.”

For parents and caregivers of young children, Dr. Stormee Williams, a pediatrician and chief health equity officer at Children’s Health, said it’s important to build healthy eating habits early to support better health later in life.

At the same time, she said parents should meet kids where they are by introducing healthier versions of foods they already enjoy, such as a baked apple topped with cinnamon instead of apple pie.

“Don’t restrict the children in your life to what you like and don’t like,” Williams added. “Even if it’s something that you don’t readily eat, but you have it available, go ahead and serve it to them, because they might like it.”

For people on GLP-1 drugs, whether for managing diabetes or weight loss, Dr. Dora Johnson, a family medicine physician with the Methodist Health System, recommends focusing on eating enough protein and multiple small meals a day.

“As you lose weight rapidly, you lose muscle mass,” said Johnson. “That’s why we spoke about protein being very important to incorporate in all your meals, but you also want to preserve muscle mass through weight-bearing and strength training.”

Panelists said financial barriers and food insecurity remain major obstacles to ensuring people have access to the nutrition they need.

For example, the Community Health Needs Assessment Report – a data-driven evaluation of the health status, needs and challenges facing communities in Texas – is used to help guide local health programs.

The 2025 report identified food insecurity and nutrition among the top three health-related problems in Dallas and Rockwall counties.

“Some of the statistics were astounding, which is why Parkland, partnering with other health organizations and communities, has developed interventions in specific ZIP codes, specifically South Dallas, to try to reverse that,” said Jessica Hernandez, vice president of community integrated health at Parkland Health. “You can imagine that food is a part of that, but it is one part.”

Siler highlighted a partnership at Red Bird with Crossroads Community Services, which opened a nutrition pharmacy on-site.

Patients from nearby clinics – including UT Southwestern and Parkland – who are screened and identified as food insecure can easily access the pantry and select food for themselves.

The screening process takes less than 30 seconds and is done for all patients to reduce stigma. The program’s goal, Siler said, is not just to address food insecurity but also nutrition insecurity, ensuring people have access to the nutrients they need to support their health.

Overall, treating food as medicine must be a priority for health providers hoping to change the tides in medical care and prevention of preventable diseases, Albin said.

That means having thoughtful, sensitive conversations with patients and communities about their relationship with food, particularly for those who have experienced food-related trauma.

“We’ve created a void in medicine,” Albin said. “I think we need to own that we haven’t been a voice for this … I blame us, which is part of why training the next generation to do better and to not do harm in their language around food is a huge priority.”