Food As the Universal Prescription for Health with the Grocer in the Health/Care Ecosystem – Learning from Ahold Delhaize
By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn on 19 October 2026 in Affordability, AI and health, Artificial intelligence, Augmented intelligence, Business and health, Chronic disease, Connected health, Consumer experience, Consumer-directed health, CX, Design and health, Determinants of health, Diabetes, Diet and health, Digital health, DTC health, DTP health, Education and health, Empathy, European health care, Family, Financial health, Financial wellness, Food and health, Food as medicine, Food security, Global Health, GLP-1s, Grocery stores, Health access, Health and Beauty, Health and wealth, Health at home, Health benefits, Health care industry, Health care marketing, Health citizenship, Health Consumers, Health costs, Health Economics, Health ecosystem, Health engagement, Health equity, Health marketing, Health media, Health politics, Healthcare access, Home economics, Home health, Inflation and health, Integrative medicine, media and health, medical home, Medicines, Money and health, Noncommunicable disease, Nutrition, Obesity, Omnichannel healthcare, Out of pocket costs, Patient engagement, Patient experience, Personal health finance, Pharmacy, Politics and health, Popular culture and health, Prevention, Primary care, Public health, Retail health, SDoH, Self-care, Shopping and health, Social determinants of health, Social media and health, Social networks and health, Social responsibility, Trust, User experience UX, Weight loss, Wellbeing
92% of consumers, globally, want to change their diet to be healthier; 8 in 10 global health citizens are actively trying to be healthier. But these health-intentioned people share challenges and frustrations in meeting these well-intentioned goals. Having spent the last month of living and working in 4 cities in Europe, I’ve had the opportunity to experience many dimensions of health and medical care in four European countries. One universal truth in the “I-know-what-I-know” category of evidence-based health is that (good) food bolsters, sustains, and assures health for individuals, families, communities, and nations. I saw evidence of this in conversations
Jane will be working with EU- and UK-based clients in September and October 2026, collaborating with stakeholders in digital health, public/community health, retail health, and growing opportunities for health-at-home. Stay tuned to her updates here on Health Populi on-the-ground as she lives the digital nomadic work-life in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and in London.
I was grateful to be Jasmine's first conversation-guest on her new podcast, "Aperture - Widen the Frame," where this expert in narrative medicine is bringing together the broad range of voices to sit at the table and address what health care needs: those humans in the health-system-loop who address health equity and empathy along with delivering evidence-based medicine for all.
Jane joined host Dr. Geeta "Dr. G" Nayyar and colleagues to brainstorm the value of vaccines for public and individual health in this challenging environment for health literacy, health politics, and health citizen grievance. Click onto the Pfizer Value of Vaccines site and you can watch four episodes covering the challenges with adult vaccination, the employer and health plan member's journey to vaccination, reimbursement, and collaborating for proactive prevention.