Future Physicians and Food Insecurity: New Leaf Foods Speaks at MCW Panel

Part 1

New Leaf Foods President Lynn Walter explained the why knowing where your food comes from is important at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). 

How will food insecurity affect future physicians’ medical practices? A Food Insecurity session hosted by the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) - Green Bay on November 7 looked to answer this question.

New Leaf Foods President Lynn Walter sat on a Community Food System Panel alongside representatives from Brown County FoodWIse and Rooted In Inc. to discuss how good food supports good health.  The session was a part of first-year medical students’ required course ‘The Good Doctor,’ which explores topics of ethics, wellbeing, and health equity. 

Professionals and researchers have long advocated for the inclusion of food and nutritional education into medical school curriculum. According to the National Library of Medicine, the American Council on Foods and Nutrition made the case for this in 1963, explaining that nutritional factors have a significant impact on the body’s function.  Despite this, a 2023 study found that the majority of reporting medical schools had failed to implement the recommended nutrition education into their curriculum. The Medical College of Wisconsin is doing its part to educate future physicians on how to address health concerns stemming from food insecurity. 

Food insecurity is defined by the USDA as “lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life.” This struggle could be episodic or long-term for families and individuals. Food insecurity may result in several common health issues including increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and mental health disorders.

The session began with an introduction to food insecurity and how it may look different for everyone facing it. Some major contributors to food insecurity are poverty and a person’s or household’s proximity to grocery stores and supermarkets.  Presenters Dr. Leslie Ruffalo, PhD and Dr. Linda Meurer, MD, MPH from the MCW Milwaukee campus noted that if conditions are created to supply populations with healthier food, they will eat it. But it’s not always so simple. The doctors went on to explain that in urban settings, food swamps – places with a plethora of fast food restaurants and convenience stores – may be common. In this case, some populations are swimming in food options, but a rare few of them are healthy. The opposite can be said for rural communities that may struggle with food deserts, where there is a lack of food options — healthy or not — in the area.  

“Food swamps are places with a plethora of fast food restaurants, convenience stores, and other unhealthy options”

Following the introduction to food insecurity, students were asked to participate in a budgeting activity, where they had to make difficult decisions about how to allocate funds for everyday expenses. This simulated the everyday choices that many people who are food insecure face. It was challenging for students to decide whether or not they would spend money on something such as childcare over food, or vice versa. The presenters then emphasized the importance of asking screening questions during appointments to determine if their patients are facing food insecurity. These questions are meant to inform the physician of any impact food insecurity may have on the patient’s health. Then the physician can recommend resources to combat this issue such as food pantries, food assistance programs, or cost-effective shopping tips to increase the patient’s access to healthy foods. 

Lynn Walter was able to share New Leaf Foods’ mission of working to create a thriving local food system in Northeastern Wisconsin and being a hub for food education and communication. She explained that New Leaf Foods is striving to help create “food citizens,” people who know where their food comes from, and are empowered to make informed decisions about what they stock their kitchens with. Ideally, food citizens would also be able to grow their own food. She cited a colorful example to make her case about how far removed recent generations have become from the food production process. 

“We will kill the old red rooster when she comes!” are the lyrics to a song that Walter recalls singing in her childhood. Having grown up on a farm, she thought nothing of singing the words that some may find unsettling. The medical students in the session had never heard this version of the classic “She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain” folk song. In fact, the line earned a few surprised, skeptical looks from the crowd. The revised lyrics to the song read “then we'll all eat purple pizza when she comes (ew, yucky).”  Today, it’s not common for the average person to know exactly where their food comes from, and even rarer that they’re involved in the process. 

“Food citizens are people who know where their food comes from and are empowered to make informed decisions about what they stock their kitchens with”

Walter explained that working together in communities to inform people on where their food comes from, and to increase access to healthy foods can be a way of fighting food insecurity. The panel noted that food pantries are a great resource for those struggling to afford groceries. For example, Paul’s Pantry is a large food pantry in the Greater Green Bay Area where community members can go to stock up on the food they need for each week. Helping medical students be aware of not only the challenges their patients may be facing but also the solutions, makes an impact. A doctor isn’t  able to write a prescription for healthy, plentiful food that their patient can take to the pharmacy counter, but there are other ways they can make a difference. Overcoming food insecurity is a challenge that no one medical professional can achieve, but by working as a piece of a larger puzzle along with food assistance programs, education, food pantries, etc, they can help act as the catalyst for people to access the resources they need. 

To read more about the topic of Food Insecurity and the medical field, check out this article: Future Physicians and Food Insecurity: A Medical Student’s Perspective.