Project Open Hand and UCSF are studying the benefits of healthy food for the critically ill.
Results of the collaborative Food = Medicine pilot study, launched in 2014, are expected to be announced this summer, according to Bay Area Bites.
A fact sheet of the study cites a similar experiment conducted by MANNA in Philadelphia stating that participants who ate healthy meals reduced their medical costs by 60 percent.
The methodology states that for four to six months, up to 60 participants with HIV/AIDS, diabetes, or a combination have been fed three meals a day that have been created with their total health and health care regimen in mind. They've also received nutrition education and counseling, all working toward the goal to show that "providing medically-tailored nutrition to people living with critical illness has a positive impact on their health and well-being, which in turn can reduce medical costs."
Project Open Hand is celebrating 30 years of service in 2015. A creative new fundraising culinary event called Taste of the City on May 7 will gather diners at San Francisco City Hall before transporting them in small groups in limousines to a secret location of one of 40 different SF restaurants.
