Navigating the nuances of ‘Food as Medicine’ [Interview]

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The Food as Medicine philosophy – which views food and nutrition interventions as supporting health and wellness – undoubtedly resonates with many people. Products positioned as healthy often have clear consumer appeal. As dietitian and founder of the consultancy, High Performance Nutrition, Dr Susan Kleiner points out, the concept harks back to the ancient Greek Hippocrates and his famous quotation: ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’. “This was perhaps the original public health promotion and disease prevention concept,” she says.

Nonetheless, Kleiner views the current Food as Medicine trend as a double-edged sword. “There is a danger that when you market a product as able to cure all your ills, the messaging comes across as medical,” she says. “There is the risk that this becomes a turn-off, because in general, this is not why people choose to eat a particular product.”

Food as Medicine: A double-edged sword

Kleiner will expand on this analysis at Fi Europe’s Future of Nutrition Summit this November and show that consumer perceptions are more complex than initial data might suggest. While it is true that consumers are increasingly health conscious and interested in products with added health benefits, they do not want the joy of food to be taken away.

This is the double-edged sword that Kleiner is talking about – the danger of pushing messaging so far that brands turn their products into something joyless and obligatory. This, in most cases, is going to be a turn off.

“You can see this happening on the shelves,” she says. “I don’t eat chocolate to get antioxidants. I eat it for luxury and indulgence. I think we have seen chocolate brands pull back from some heavy-handed messaging about antioxidants, to something much more subliminal.”

Getting health messaging right

Kleiner points out that prioritising health messaging in certain product categories makes sense. A positive example here would be wheatgrass shots. “No one drinks these because they taste good,” she says. “But they are tiny, and people believe they are good for them. They have this health halo.”

Another product category with a health halo is yoghurt. “Consumers understand that yoghurt is a good source of protein, and it is a naturally fermented food that may enhance gut health,” says Kleiner. “People are clued in to that. I think we are seeing yoghurt manufacturers figuring out how to keep the joy and fun in their food, while combining this with health messaging.

Kleiner also notes the rising popularity of gummies. “Why are these so popular?” she asks. “We couldn’t get a whole generation of people to take vitamin pills, but now they take vitamin gummies. The reason is that people don’t want to feel that they are taking medicine, and gummies are essentially candy.”

Promoting health and adapting to consumers lifestyles

The conclusion that Kleiner reaches is that brands need to be aware of the complexities surrounding the ‘Food as Medicine’ concept. “If you ask consumers what they think of the ‘Food as Medicine’ concept, many will say they love it,” she says. “But not enough marketing professionals then dig into where this messaging begins and ends. The focus on food should nearly always be on taste and joy, rather than its medicinal quality.”

Kleiner notes a key distinction here. Medicine is mission-driven to treat disease, and she suggests that associating food with this quality can lead to misinformation. Successfully marketed healthy foods should be about promoting health, aiming to prevent disease, and fitting into the kinds of lifestyles that consumers aspire to.

“Again, this comes down to marketing nuance,” she says. “The ‘Food as Medicine’ concept can work, so long as it is not taken over the edge and consumers are made to feel that a particular product is just there to treat a disease. In other words, consumers love the Food as Medicine concept – to a point. As a dietitian, I want to see food promoted in a positive way. It is the same with exercise. There is a joy in exercising, and if we turn this into a punishment, then we take the joy out of it.”