Loma Linda University Health Implements Therapeutic Meals in Inpatient Setting
In 2018, Ardmore Institute of Health (AIH) began funding Loma Linda University’s Adventist Health Study research project. The Adventist Health Study, started in 2001, provided much of the scientific foundation for Lifestyle Medicine and evidence for the long-term health effects of plant-based diets.
In the first 3 years of funding, AIH helped lay the foundation for the next generation of the Adventist Health Study research by supporting healthy diet research, sustainable lifestyle change research, and digital data collection projects. Click here to access the resulting publications.
In years 4 and 5, AIH supported Loma Linda to translate the Adventist Health Study research into the clinical arena through the development and implementation of a therapeutic inpatient menu. Today, Loma Linda University Health is serving therapeutic meals to inpatients in the adult Medical Center, and this is the first initiative in the nation to use nutrition as a treatment in an inpatient setting.
“It makes no sense for a doctor to perform a stent for a cardiac patient and then give that patient a burger and fries for their next meal after the procedure. We’re trying to take the latest evidence-based findings of nutrition to the next level of implementation so patients don’t have to come back to a hospital.”
– April Wilson, Chair of Preventive Medicine
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