Defraeye Thijs, Bahrami Flora, Kowatsch Tobias, Annaheim Simon, Bragt Marjolijn Ce, Rossi René M, Greger Michael
Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Biomimetic Membranes and Textiles, St. Gallen, Switzerland; Food Quality and Design, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Biomimetic Membranes and Textiles, St. Gallen, Switzerland; ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Adv Nutr. 2025 Jun;16(6):100421. doi: 10.1016/j.advnut.2025.100421. Epub 2025 Apr 4.
Food-as-medicine (FAM) is an emerging trend among medical doctors, health insurers, startups, and governmental public-health and nongovernmental organizations. FAM implies using food as a part of an individual's health plan to prevent or help treat acute and chronic health conditions and diseases. We highlight trends and hurdles in the FAM intervention pyramid. Our viewpoint is to indicate how interventions might change the future demand for specific food groups, their transport in supply chains, and the technologies used to process them. On the basis of national guidelines, dietary interventions can help to prevent and treat many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancers, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. FAM R&D and services offer more individualized treatments. This is challenging given the interindividual variability and complexity of the body's response to food and related factors, such as dietary habits, genetics, lifestyle, and biosphere. Quantifying health improvements is essential to prove the added value of more individualized FAM interventions compared with adopting a general healthy diet. It is unclear which level of individualization of interventions produces the largest health benefits at the lowest costs for the patient, healthcare system, and climate. FAM interventions can support and complement conventional medical treatment. They will require a shift to producing more health-promoting foods, including whole foods, minimally processed foods, and selected processed foods. The food processing industry and supply chains must adapt to these new scenarios. Auxiliary technologies and methods are enablers, including delivery services, wearable technology, health-monitoring apps, and data-driven consumer behavior analysis.
食物即药物（FAM）是医生、健康保险公司、初创企业以及政府公共卫生和非政府组织中兴起的一种趋势。FAM意味着将食物作为个人健康计划的一部分，以预防或帮助治疗急性和慢性健康状况及疾病。我们强调了FAM干预金字塔中的趋势和障碍。我们的观点是指出干预措施可能如何改变未来对特定食物组的需求、它们在供应链中的运输以及用于加工它们的技术。根据国家指南，饮食干预有助于预防和治疗多种疾病，包括心血管疾病、癌症、2型糖尿病和肥胖症。FAM的研发和服务提供了更个性化的治疗方法。鉴于个体间的变异性以及身体对食物和相关因素（如饮食习惯、遗传学、生活方式和生物圈）反应的复杂性，这具有挑战性。量化健康改善对于证明与采用一般健康饮食相比，更个性化的FAM干预措施的附加值至关重要。尚不清楚干预措施的何种个性化程度能以最低成本为患者、医疗保健系统和气候带来最大的健康益处。FAM干预可以支持和补充传统医学治疗。它们将需要转向生产更多促进健康的食物，包括全食物、最少加工的食物和精选的加工食物。食品加工业和供应链必须适应这些新情况。辅助技术和方法是促成因素，包括配送服务、可穿戴技术、健康监测应用程序以及数据驱动的消费者行为分析。
