WEDNESDAY, Oct. 7, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Sending people bundles of healthy food can help them lose pounds and reduce blood pressure, a new study says.
People receiving plant-based grocery packages from a Boston-area food pantry wound up in overall better health after a couple of years, researchers report in the October issue of the journal Preventing Chronic Disease.
The packages included enough food for three meals per day for one week, and consisted of fresh fruits and veggies, canned beans, nut butter and whole grains, researchers said.
“Our results suggest that plant-based food interventions are promising and, in the future, should focus on longer duration for improving cardiovascular and metabolic health,” senior researcher Dr. Lauren Fiechtner said in a news release. She’s division chief of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at Mass General Brigham for Children in Boston.
The new study involved 68 adults participating in a “Food Is Medicine” program run through a Mass General Brigham community health center’s food bank.
These folks received an average of 97 plant-based food boxes for a little more than two-and-a-half years. Participants were invited to receive weekly food packages for as long as they liked.
Prior studies have shown that providing healthy food to sick people can help manage diseases like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, researchers noted.
However, most "Food Is Medicine" studies only examine short-term impacts, following participants for weeks or months, researchers said. This study set out to see how years of healthy food packages can affect long-term health.
Results indicate that for every 100 food packages a person received, they experienced a 3.2-point decline in their diastolic blood pressure (the pressure between heartbeats); lost nearly 6 pounds of body weight; and had their Body Mass Index, an estimate of body fat, drop by a point.
The program also helped lower systolic blood pressure among patients with high blood pressure. (Systolic blood pressure, the top number in a blood pressure reading, is the force in one’s arteries when the heart beats.)
People who asked for more food packages showed even larger improvements, researchers said.
“This paper has the potential to change the conversation about 'Food Is Medicine' interventions,” lead researcher Dr. Jacob Mirsky, a primary care physician at Mass General Brigham Revere Community Health Center, said in a news release.
“We are boldly advocating for high potency interventions that focus on frequent, high quality, high quantity food packages over long periods of time so that patients have the greatest chance of benefiting,” Mirsky said.
More information
Tufts University has more about “Food Is Medicine.”
SOURCE: Mass General Brigham, news release, Oct. 2, 2026
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