According to the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation, approximately six in ten Americans live with at least one chronic disease, driving health care spending to $4.5 trillion in 2022. That fiscal and medical burden took center stage on July 29 at Food Tank’s Capitol Hill Luncheon, hosted in partnership with the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, where researchers and policymakers examined how diet shapes chronic illness, mental health, and longevity.
The Cost of Chronic Disease and the US Healthcare System
Medical expenditures tied to chronic physical and mental health conditions accounted for 90 percent of total U.S. health care spending in 2022, according to the NIHCM Foundation figures discussed at the event. Dariush Mozaffarian, Director of the Food is Medicine Institute, broke down the financial toll on individual households during the panel discussions.
“For an average family of four, we spend US$50,000 a year on healthcare,” Mozaffarian stated. He added, “Imagine if we spent just US$10,000 less per family, what that family could do or what the government could do with the US$10,000 a year, let alone US$20,000 less.”
To address these expenditures, speakers challenged the foundational model of American medicine. Eric Verdin of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging argued that the existing framework operates backward. “We have a medical system now that we call healthcare. It is not healthcare, it is sickcare,” Verdin said.
How Nutrition and Ultra-Processed Foods Drive Inflammation
Diet influences the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers while altering metabolic and repair pathways in the human body, according to presentations at the Tufts-partnered event. Verdin explained that nutrition functions as more than mere caloric energy, acting instead as a biological signal.
“The choices that you make when you’re eating influence your metabolism and your brain,” Verdin said. He linked poor dietary patterns directly to physical decline, noting, “What happens when you have a poor diet is you enter a state of chronic inflammation… This affects your brain.”
Did you know? Ultra-processed foods account for 50 percent of nutrition for most Americans, according to data highlighted by Eric Verdin, who noted that these items are engineered for palatability rather than nutritional value.
Panelists agreed that additional research is necessary to isolate the exact mechanisms by which ultra-processed foods impact health and to help the broader food supply shift toward more nutritious options.
Dietary Connections to Mental Health and Metabolic Approaches
The science linking food to well-being extends beyond physical ailments into neurological and psychological function. Ashley Gearhardt, Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, pointed to a robust and growing body of data connecting ultra-processed diets to mental health conditions.
“Some of the strongest evidence between ultra-processed food diets and disease is actually for mental health conditions,” Gearhardt said. “We are seeing a strong body of evidence that the food you’re eating is going to influence how your mind is working.”
Jan Ellison Baszucki, President of the Baszucki Group, shared a firsthand account of utilizing metabolic approaches when her son used a ketogenic diet to help treat bipolar disorder. Questioning current research funding priorities, Baszucki asked, “Can we afford, as a society, to not investigate nutritional, metabolic approaches to our most serious mental illnesses?”
Bipartisan Momentum and Artificial Intelligence in Nutritional Research
Despite deep political divisions on various legislative matters, speakers observed a rare alignment among lawmakers regarding food policy and chronic disease prevention. Mozaffarian noted that after a decade of active advocacy, he had “never seen such bipartisan support.”
Calley Means, Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, echoed that sentiment, emphasizing that lawmakers across the political spectrum recognize a unique window to address these issues.
To refine future dietary guidelines and treatments, experts advocated for advanced data collection methods. Uma Naidoo, Director of Nutritional & Lifestyle Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, urged the medical community to embrace modern tools. “The age of AI is here, and we should be implementing it to collect more accurate data to offer personalized solutions for some individuals, but also offer better research,” Naidoo said.
Mozaffarian concluded that enacting targeted federal policies remains a viable path forward to upgrade the American food supply and lower systemic healthcare costs. “There’s a handful of policies that we could enact to both improve the science and improve the food right now for Americans,” Mozaffarian said.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of U.S. healthcare spending goes toward chronic conditions?
According to data from the NIHCM Foundation presented at the event, 90 percent of the US$4.5 trillion spent on U.S. health care in 2022 went toward individuals with chronic physical and mental health conditions.
How much of the average American diet consists of ultra-processed foods?
Eric Verdin of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging stated that ultra-processed foods represent 50 percent of nutrition for most Americans.
What is the Food is Medicine Institute?
The Food is Medicine Institute is based at Tufts University and partnered with Food Tank to host the Capitol Hill Luncheon examining the links between nutrition, metabolism, and longevity.
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