Food as Medicine Series
Moore Family Center
We're taking a food-based and systematic approach to nutrition education — narrowing in on a single food group for each edition of the series and exploring food systems, production and processing, and nutrition science.
The Food as Medicine Series is a two-part nutrition outreach program designed to both equip the next generation of health practitioners with the knowledge and skills to address diet’s implication in chronic disease, while providing accessible nutrition education to OSU and our community. With our expert panelist seminar discussion and culinary medicine workshop, you can learn about nutrition’s dynamic role in health and how science informs patient care.
The burden of diet-related chronic disease is only projected to worsen in the US and throughout the globe (Ma et al., 2025). We need all hands-on-deck to address the epidemic of preventable chronic disease.
The facts about diet-related chronic disease
- Over 100 million Americans struggle with at least one diet-related chronic disease (Benavidez, 2024).
- Over 1 million American adults die from diet-related chronic disease each year (Matthews & Kurnat-Thoma, 2024).
- The annual cost of diabetes alone is estimated to total $413 billion in the United States (direct medical care costs combined with estimated losses from reduced productivity CDC, 2024).
- Each year, an average of $334 billion was spent between private (out of pocket and private insurance) and federal (Medicare, Medicaid, and other) payers to treat key diet-related conditions among adults each year in 2021 and 2022 (Hill, S and Fang, Z 2025).
With a desire to help solve the burden of chronic disease, the Moore Family Center aims to address the call from government and the professional medical community to further develop nutrition education and dietetic literacy among medical trainees (Affairs (ASPA), 2025); (Eisenberg et al., 2024).
Food as Medicine: Dairy in Health Practice
During the first episode of the Food as Medicine Series, we explored dairy’s role in a healthy diet and preventing and managing diet-related chronic disease.
Our two-part program included:
Expert Panelist Seminar Discussion
Join us for thought-provoking conversation on the power of dairy foods in health and disease — and strengthen your ability to promote well-being and address chronic illness. Learn more about myths surrounding the effects dairy has on health!
What you’ll gain
- Discover how dairy shapes chronic disease prevention and treatment
- Explore the future of dairy production and sustainability
- Envision where dairy nutrition research and dietetic science are headed in patient care
- Q+A session at the end
Culinary Medicine Workshop
Calling future healthcare practitioners
Apply what you learned in the expert panel discussion in the Moore Family Center teaching kitchens by preparing medically tailored meals. Learn more about how dietetics can be applied to the dinner plate to prevent and manage chronic diseases like type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
What you’ll gain
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Understand the pathology and pathophysiology behind diet-related chronic disease
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Cook to enhance your food and nutrition literacy by preparing medically tailored meals
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Gather together with your allied-health peers to enjoy food cooked with purpose
Learn
Learn about ype-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and dairy foods with our Culinary Medicine Workshop lecture slides:
Follow
Follow along with the Culinary Medicine Workshop slides with our workshop packet:
Build
Build your food literacy using our ingredient cards and this active learning exercise:
Prepare
Prepare these delicious medically tailored meals fit for life-long health!
Food Insecurity: Learn and Act with the Moore Family Center
What you’ll gain
The Moore Family Center hosted the Program Director of Linn Benton Food Share, OSU food insecurity researchers, and community advocates from OSU Extension and Linn County Health Department to discuss the current state of food insecurity.
It’s no secret that food insecurity is worsening in Oregon and across the country. Check out this seminar to learn about the facts, challenges, potential solutions, and how to get involved!
Panelists include
- Ryan McCambridge – Linn Benton Food Share
- Diego Nieto – Linn County Health Department
- Tina Dodge, MPH – OSU Extension
- Jenny Jackson, PhD, RDN, CHWC – OSU Nutrition faculty
- Mark Edwards, PhD – OSU Policy Analysis Laboratory
Capstone projects
MS-PD students developing Food as Medicine Series capstone projects:
Lisa Sergeeva
I’m pursuing a Food as Medicine Capstone because its mission aligns deeply with my passions. I was inspired to learn that this series offers hands-on nutrition education for pre-med students, a group that will greatly benefit from this knowledge in their future work with patients. Nutrition education is a field I aspire to grow in, and working with the Food as Medicine series provides an exciting opportunity to gain meaningful, real-world experience that supports that goal.
Chloe Seefeldt
I am excited to participate in the Food as Medicine Series for my capstone project because as an aspiring dietitian, I believe in the ability of wholesome foods to prevent disease and promote wellbeing. My capstone project will focus on the gut-brain link and specifically, how certain foods benefit mental health. I am looking forward to gaining experience in nutrition education, which I can see myself pursuing further in my future career.
If you have questions or are interested in learning more, please contact Adam Choate at the Moore Family Center, Milam Hall 214.
