Food as Medicine

Despite the wide variety and apparent abundance of modern products, accessibility to healthy food remains a global challenge. The UN estimates that more than three billion people do not have access to a healthy diet, and more than a billion are obese. Over the past 30 years, the number of adults with this diagnosis has doubled, while the incidence among children has quadrupled. The high cost of healthy food and people’s lack of awareness about truly healthy or harmful eating habits have drastically shifted the focus of mass consumer demand towards products that provide a basic supply of energy, but cause deficiencies in vital nutrients and vitamins. Various estimates indicate that it will cost the world more than USD 30 billion from 2010 to 2030 to treat excess weight and related chronic non-communicable diseases. It is crucial for major companies in the food industry, science, and the government to jointly create a healthy food market and join forces to reduce the spread of socially significant diseases. Such collaboration should result in the creation of mechanisms to stimulate the development of innovative products, tools to make balanced diets more accessible and monitor the quality and safety of food in all price categories, as well as programmes that help increase public awareness about ways to preserve people’s health, develop healthy eating habits, and boost consumer demand for healthy food. How does modern science define healthy food and a balanced diet? What innovations in the food industry aim to provide people with high-quality, nutritious, and healthy products? What forms and methods of interaction between the government, science, and business could help expand the size of the healthy food market and ensure people have access to a healthy diet? How can we promote good eating habits among the population? How can food help humans remain competitive with artificial intelligence? Is it possible to ensure the mass availability of healthy food on the market instead of it being available to just a select few? Can healthy food help enhance human resourcefulness?