Food is Medicine

In this episode, Dr. Wu and co-host Darren Gonzalez unpack one of the most urgent crises in modern healthcare: a $4.5 trillion chronic disease epidemic driven largely by what Americans eat. Drawing on What Does Food is Medicine Mean?, published by the Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Dr. Wu's own clinical observations as an ophthalmologist, they trace the food is medicine movement from ancient Persian wound care and Hippocrates all the way to modern medically tailored meals being prescribed in clinical settings today. The episode explores the biology of how diet programs your immune system, disrupts or heals your gut microbiome, and either fuels or reverses chronic disease — and asks whether health insurance should one day cover groceries instead of prescriptions.