At the heart of Foodsmart’s mission: to combat food insecurity by making healthy eating habits more accessible to all

Foodsmart founder and CEO Dr. Jason Langheier grew up in a self-described “blue-collar family” that grew up eating free school lunches and having an on-and-off relationship with food stamps. He watched three aunts and uncles suffer strokes in their 50s while others died young from diabetes and struggled with obesity. Dr. Langheier, nicknamed Jay, was the first person in his extended family to go to college, during which time he was always surprised when his 85-year-old grandparents visited campus on family weekends, recalling that it was surprising that people lived that long.

He began to believe that he had grown up in poverty.

He gave up on that idea when he began working at Boston Medical Center and helped found the hospital’s pediatric obesity clinic. It was there that he saw many children surviving on diets of foods such as chips and toasted pastries given to them by food banks, which pediatricians refer to wryly. At school, Langheier added, many ate their best meal of the day: a slice of pizza or chicken nuggets with chocolate milk. It’s no wonder these children were morbidly obese and faced diabetes and hypertension by age 5. This was an unprecedented development in previous generations. This motivated Langheier and his team to engage and better support children and their families. They’ve taken a new, more personalized approach to healthier living by offering personalized shopping lists based on a family’s food preferences and their food stamp budget. The plan had a positive impact as clinic staff noticed improved insulin resistance in children. Additionally, it led doctors to wonder whether it was possible to write so-called “foodscripts” (a portmanteau for what is essentially a prescription pad) with a grocer or another person bringing the items to a family’s door.

That’s when the seeds of Foodsmart were planted.

“I really appreciate what families are doing to maximize their resources to try to provide good food for their children,” Dr. Langheier said.

Dr. Langheier’s experiments date back to 2002 and a lot has happened since then. In a recent email interview with me, Langheier explained that Foodsmart has slowly but surely become what he calls “the largest food care provider in the United States,” which has been clinically proven to “improve sustainably reduce food insecurity, obesity and chronic diseases while demonstrating positive results. return on investment for the payer” thanks to a vast network of dietitians whose role is to provide food-centered telemedicine. On its website, Foodsmart describes itself as “the first telehealth experience that combines dietitian services, tailored meal planning tools, and the most widely integrated food delivery marketplace in one place to keep you well eating with ease for your mind and your wallet.” According to Dr. Langheier, what sets Foodsmart apart from its competitors in the market is multi-faceted. These include grocery delivery, assistance with signing up for and using SNAP/EBT benefits, and meals tailored to each individual’s medical needs.

When asked who benefits most from Foodsmart, Dr. Langheier told me that the company focuses primarily on people who “often face significant barriers to healthy living, including low-income families, rural communities, people living in food deserts, and people who more generally want nutritional support for chronic conditions or preventative measures,” adding that the majority of Foodsmart’s partners are Medicaid and Medicare insurers. Foodsmart serves 2.2 million people, and “tens of millions” for whom Foodsmart is free.

“Our goal is to continue to create partnerships so that more people have access to nutritional care through their health insurance plan, making it more accessible and affordable,” said the Dr. Langheier.

Foodsmart exists because, as Dr. Langheier told me, more than 44 million Americans (1-8 people) live with daily food insecurity, a situation that has been exacerbated by the pandemic and socioeconomic issues such as the supply chain, rising inflation and climate change. He also noted that more than half of Americans struggle with chronic illness — which are actually disabilities — and said Foodsmart is committed to “addressing food insecurity (by) influencing patient outcomes and reducing the cost of care for millions of people.” Overall, it is a confluence of factors that make food insecurity the precarious and serious societal problem that it is today.

Although it goes unstated, the reality is that food insecurity is also about accessibility. That’s because countless people with disabilities lack the physical and financial means to not only shop for groceries, but also to bring the ingredients home and then cook something to feed themselves and their families. The aforementioned reliance on junk food that Dr. Langheier and his colleagues observed for nourishment isn’t a matter of laziness or apathy; for many, an unhealthy diet is better than no food at all. With increasing food resources and low incomes, a person with disabilities could surely benefit from Foodsmart. It makes healthier eating more accessible, especially when combined with programs like SNAP and the fact that Foodsmart delivers directly to your home. It means that barriers are broken down—which, as we often say here, is the whole point of accessibility.

My conversation with Dr. Langheier coincided with Foodsmart’s announcement today that it is partnering with TPG’s Rise Fund to, according to the press release, “lead an investment of more than $200 million” to support further Foodsmart’s work, which began in 2010. Langheier said the partnership with TPG will “amplify” the company’s mission, saying the increased support will help Foodsmart expand its operations and “expand our reach.” Additionally, he said the support will “integrate our food care solutions into more health insurance plans and healthcare systems,” while improving its technology and much more.

In terms of feedback, Dr. Langheier said it was overwhelmingly positive, saying 42% of Foodsmart users were food secure within six months. He added that the company had also demonstrated “sustained clinical improvements in chronic disease,” as demonstrated in numerous peer-reviewed clinical studies. People continue to lose weight, with Dr. Langheier saying they save an average of 34% on their grocery bill. These savings make “healthy eating more affordable and accessible” for people, which in turn contributes to weight loss. It’s a virtuous cycle.

Dr. Langheier shared an anecdote about someone named Maya, who struggled with weight loss and chronic illness over the past few years. He told me that she had tried conventional methods to lose weight, but that those attempts had only led to stubborn eating habits and binge eating. This led to Maya being diagnosed as pre-diabetic and suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Faced with either worsening chronic kidney disease or requiring dialysis treatment, Maya chose the former and was ultimately able to lose more than 165 pounds. She learned about Foodsmart through her insurer and later began a personalized meal plan that included “culturally relevant foods” such as cactus, corn and dark chocolate. According to Dr. Langheier, better nutrition allowed Maya to experience more positive health outcomes and get through Long Covid more easily. The trip, he added, inspired Maya to “ditch the diet rules and focus on what her body needs and craves, (which ultimately improved) her health and well-being.” -be “. Stories like Maya’s are the fuel Foodsmart uses to move forward in its work, Dr. Langheier said.

“By having the largest virtual network of dietitians in the country, we are able to connect members with dietitians they can trust: this often means they speak the same language or have the same cultural background. Food is a language for many people, so it is essential that our members are connected to dietitians who speak this “language,” he said. “Discussing food and health together is a deeply personal experience, so by starting with empathy and having a mutual understanding of backgrounds, we are able to see positive outcomes and member experiences as shown by our (score net promoter) in the 1980s.”

Looking ahead, Dr. Langheier said Foodsmart is committed to its mission of bringing nutritious food to all because it is their right.

“By bringing food care into the homes of already millions – and potentially hundreds of millions – of Americans, we are preventing and defeating disease, while improving quality of life,” he said.