Hospital Food Environments

Obesity and its related diseases are considered by many experts and public health officials to be the number one health problem facing our state and our communities.  Poor diet has been identified as a root cause of this epidemic.  Eating a healthy diet may be more difficult for some because healthy food options are not readily available, easily accessible, or affordable in their communities. In fact, scientific studies have found that low-income and underserved communities often have limited access to sites that offer healthy food, especially high-quality fruits and vegetables and healthy beverage options.

The Healthy Food in Health Care program is working with health care organizations to take charge of their positive role within their communities and serve as a source of healthy food and beverage options for the patients, staff and visitors they serve.  Hospitals throughout the country have begun to transform their food environments in a variety of ways by: creating healthy vending criteria; eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages from their facility offerings and increasing access to public drinking water; removing trans-fats from menus; shifting retail price structures to encourage healthy food selection; and last but certainly not least, by increasing the purchase of local and sustainable foods.

As pillars of health, hospitals and health care institutional purchasing and practices can go a long way toward supporting a shift in the larger food environment for their community.