Despite growing concerns among some lawmakers and the scientific community, nearly half of voters approve of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. One of Kennedy’s stated goals is to fight chronic disease by cracking down on processed food. But to what extent would he actually be able to accomplish this?
To company founders in the food-as-medicine space, RFK Jr.’s philosophy on nutrition in and of itself is a positive thing. But, when considering the broader Trump-Vance agenda of deregulation and spending cuts, entrepreneurs have serious doubts about what can truly be achieved. Fierce Healthcare spoke to nearly a dozen founders, functional medicine docs, investors and policy experts to get their take on where the space might be headed.
Ashley Tyrner of FarmboxRx remains hopeful that food-as-medicine will someday become the standard of care. And she thinks Kennedy’s agenda can spur progress. “I think this is an amazingly positive announcement for the food-as-medicine movement,” Tyrner told Fierce Healthcare.
Since the nomination news, Tyrner has seen a spike in investor interest. “I’ve been flooded with VCs reaching out to me,” she said, hearing from seven investors in the few days following the announcement. “I haven’t had a cold VC email in quite some time.” A few cited the nomination, she said, and asked whether FarmboxRx was raising capital (not right now, per Tyrner).
Another founder who has also reported investor interest is Lauren Driscoll of NourishedRx, a digital health and nutrition platform. Current backers, as well as investor acquaintances, reached out to get her take, she said. They expressed excitement and their faith that RFK Jr.’s focus could be a tailwind for the sector. “The pronounced focus on the true foundational nature of nutrition is super exciting,” Driscoll said.
“Food as medicine is kind of a buzzword, and I think people forget what it actually means,” Aidan Dewar, co-founder and CEO of telenutrition startup Nourish, told Fierce Healthcare. “It’s literally medicine, and it can outperform medicine.” Since RFK Jr. put a spotlight on food, Dewar has noticed an “uptick” in conversations among investors.
Perhaps RFK Jr.’s messaging alone could be enough to make a positive impact, some suggest. "Sometimes, we have to separate the message from the messenger. If greater awareness empowers the American public to take their health into their own hands by choosing healthier foods—and this sparks positive disruption in the food industry—I’d call that, at least, a win,” Aviva Romm, M.D., a midwife and integrative medicine specialist, told Fierce Healthcare in an email.
Food as medicine has many iterations today but generally involves medically tailored meals and produce prescriptions as well as nutrition counseling to educate patients on healthy eating. The movement has come a long way in a few years. Backed by evidence that nutrition reduces diet-related diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease, the movement was spotlighted under the Biden administration, which threw its support behind it in its national strategy on hunger, nutrition and health. In addition to multimillion-dollar commitments made by nonprofits like the Rockefeller Foundation and the American Heart Association, private sector heavyweights like Kroger have also contributed. And investors have pledged $2.5 billion to startups seeking to improve health through food.
“It has definitely evolved. The term food-as-medicine wasn’t really even out there when I started,” Driscoll said. “There’s definitely been mounting tailwinds.”
The movement is built on a personalized, holistic and preventive approach to treating disease, Elizabeth Swenor, medical director of Henry Ford Health’s lifestyle, integrative and functional medicine program, told Fierce Healthcare in an email.
“RFK’s advocacy for preventive medicine, environmental health, reduction to toxins, and using food as medicine could accelerate the integration of Functional and Lifestyle Medicine into the mainstream of healthcare,” she wrote.
His agenda could lead to greater funding and research into food to prevent and treat disease, she added, or push payers to pay for nutritional counseling and other integrative approaches to care. This “may cause a shift from traditional healthcare delivery to a more integrative approach,” Swenor wrote.
“The opportunity for nutrition care is enormous," Damir Becirovic, partner at Index Ventures—an investor in Nourish—echoed. Even outside of policy, there is growing consumer demand for healthier foods. “At the end of the day, food companies are capitalistic companies, and they’re seeing this growing interest in health from consumers," he said. “[Kennedy] may amplify it, he may not, but the trend lines are not going to stop.”
Payer budgets today to address food concerns remain limited, Tyrner acknowledged. Today, plans can offer FarmboxRx as a member engagement benefit: The company incentivizes members to get preventive care services like a flu shot in exchange for food, which the plans pay for. But there are many competing priorities in member engagement budgets, Tyrner said. Like Swenor, Tyrner is optimistic about a potential new budget dedicated specifically to combating diet-related disease, which could be “revolutionary.”
Driscoll pointed out that one could argue addressing diet ultimately reduces the total cost of care, which is of interest to the incoming administration. “If value-based care continues to be supported and promoted, it could be a really good opportunity for the work that we do,” she said.
But not everyone finds it easy to be excited. Josh Trautwein, co-founder and CEO of About Fresh, has mixed feelings about the appointment. He acknowledged upfront the “many” problematic public health viewpoints RFK Jr. espouses. Though his ideas on food and chronic disease have merit, Trautwein said, “it’s difficult to imagine that RFK’s ideas earn any type of meaningful consideration or investment [under Trump].”
In a similar vein, RxDiet CEO Roman Kalista, M.D., does not see additional federal dollars becoming available. In fact, Kalista has heard investors concerned about Trump shrinking Medicaid, as that is where many food-as-medicine companies operate. “Our space is problematic in general, because it’s not very sexy,” Kalista said. RxDiet attracts experienced investors who understand the value of food as medicine, but others might not see it as a high-growth space. “A lot of companies will get hurt, but I think a few companies will really thrive in this new space.”
“The food part of food-as-medicine is definitely something where Medicaid has historically been the leading innovator,” Dewar of Nourish echoed. “If there’s certain changes there, then that could change the food-as-medicine industry as a whole.”
On the other hand, Matt Gulbransen, general partner at Bridges Private Capital, says cutting Medicaid benefits related to food would not make sense. Bridges invests in early-stage startups, including Tangelo, a food prescription benefit platform. To Gulbransen, potential cuts feel “very contrary to everything RFK has been articulating in the press.”
Becirovic of Index Ventures agrees: “They won’t touch Medicaid, even if they say they will. That is so politically sensitive."
In fact, Gulbransen expects to see more funding and startups being dedicated to the space. Interest is already heightened. Similar to FarmboxRx, Tangelo has seen a spike in investor queries since RFK Jr.’s nomination. “Venture capital wants to invest in emerging trends,” Gulbransen said. “It’s become much more of a cocktail party conversation in recent weeks.”
What is needed to push food as medicine forward is better transparency and data around how nutrition impacts outcomes and costs, which RFK Jr. will help drive, Gulbransen believes.
“More data will allow companies and other forces to hopefully incentivize people to make better health decisions,” Gulbransen said. “It becomes more of an ecosystem around you, versus one person solely being responsible for their health outcomes.”
The stability of public benefits, however, will be under threat under Trump, some caution. Rishi Manchanda, M.D., CEO of HealthBegins, expects inequities to likely deepen. Deregulation, economic policies and tax cuts for corporations could further concentrate wealth in the U.S., which is linked to worse public health outcomes. Manchanda is worried not only about potential barriers to Medicaid but also that market-based solutions will take priority over public benefits. The private sector alone is not sufficient to address inequities, he stressed.
“If the private market is the only solution provider without requirements to re-invest in or to somehow invest in the public good, then we will see that kind of decimation of what I would call equity infrastructure,” Manchanda told Fierce Healthcare.
When it comes to food, Dewar also acknowledged the power of the public sector to regulate things like unhealthy ingredients. “There’s only so much private companies can do, and that’s a really good example of something the government needs to step in on,” Dewar said.
Deregulation could also mean less rigor around the delivery of food-as-medicine programs, which is desperately needed, Trautwein noted. He pointed to the poorly regulated medically tailored meals in Medicare Advantage as an example. “I don’t want us to withdraw from developing more sensible quality standards,” he said. “That’d be tragic.”