Food as Medicine | StartUp Health NOW Podcast

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This idea called “food as medicine” isn’t new. People have been talking for decades about how the foods we put in our body play a bigger role in preventative health and disease management than any drug or medication we could.

But it’s always been on the fringe. Partly because it’s difficult to do the studies that clinically prove that foods can be as effective as medications. And second, which is related, there hasn’t been much funding for this kind of work.

So, what’s changed? To answer that question, we sat down with Victor Penev, CEO & Founder of Edamam, a longtime member of the StartUp Health Community. Victor’s created what may be the world’s largest repository of food data. But he’s also a futurist with a keen eye on where the industry is heading.

In our conversation Penev explains how the uptake in GLP-1s and generative AI have come together in a fascinating way that opens up new opportunities in nutrition. Importantly, it may open up new funding sources and innovative business models.

On that note: StartUp Health has formally kicked off our Food as Medicine Health Moonshot Community, so if you or someone you know is a founder working in nutrition, someone with a passion to use food to make the world a healthier place, we’re accepting applications at StartUpHealth.com.

Are you ready to tell YOUR story? Members of our Health Moonshot Communities are leading startups with breakthrough technology-driven solutions for the world’s biggest health challenges. Exposure in StartUp Health Media to our global audience of investors and partners – including our podcast, newsletters, magazine, and YouTube channel – is a benefit of our Health Moonshot Community Showcase Membership. To schedule a call and see if you qualify to join and increase brand awareness through our multi-media storytelling efforts, submit our three-minute application. If you’re mission-driven, collaborative, and ready to contribute as much as you gain, you might be the perfect fit. Learn more and apply today.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (32.2MB)

At StartUp Health we’re all about what’s new and what’s next in health, and that often means talking about cutting-edge technology. But sometimes the most radical way to improve is also the simplest. One example? Our food.

This week, as we head into Thanksgiving in the United States, we’re talking about the role food plays in managing not just our weight and fitness, but actual chronic diseases. Some people use the term ‘Food as Medicine,’ and the more research we do, the more ways we find that tuning our nutrition can sometimes be superior to taking more pharmaceuticals.

While the idea of seeing food as a legitimate healthcare tool isn’t new, per se, there are some exciting new tools and platforms that leverage nutritional information and make it more accessible to the world. And that’s what we’re going to talk about on this episode.

Our first guest is Shireen Abdullah, CEO & Founder at Yumlish, who joined the StartUp Health community in 2019. Shireen’s platform puts a virtual nutritionist in your pocket, with a strong emphasis on boosting health literacy. She’s also worked very closely with the Air Force on workforce readiness. Turns out there are so many young people who are overweight and inactive that it’s hindering military recruitment and becoming a national security threat.

After Shireen we’ll hear from Victor Penev, CEO & Founder of Edamam, a Health Transformer since all the way back in 2013. Victor has made the world’s food knowledge more searchable through Edamam’s API so that users of platforms like NOOM and Virta Health can get personalized meal recommendations. We’ll also hear about their brand new integration with Open AI that brings a ChatGPT experience to the process of finding personalized meal plans.

Enjoy the episode!

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Tag Archives: Food as Medicine

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Food as Medicine: The Next Wave of Tech-Enabled Nutrition