Families with members who are at risk of, or have, certain medical conditions and are struggling financially are being prescribed fruit and vegetables by their doctors.
The pilot project, believed to be the UK's first large-scale "Fruit and Veg n Prescription", has been launched in a bid to tackle health inequality and food poverty.
Public health teams have joined with a charity which works to give families access to fresh fruit and vegetables, to run the £250,000 scheme.
Each patient chosen to participate in the scheme would be prescribed and will receive up to £8 per week in vouchers, plus £2 per week for each household member.
Participants can spend their vouchers on the fruit and veg of their choice with local retailers and market traders.
The pilot is being run in Tower Hamlets and Lambeth, boroughs with high rates of chronic disease, in conjunction with the Alexandra Rose Charity.
It will be delivered in partnership with the Bromley by Bow Centre in Tower Hamlets, one of the earliest pioneers of social prescribing, and by The Beacon Project in Lambeth.
In Tower Hamlets, participants will also be invited to take part in monthly healthy lifestyle group sessions to improve their understanding of nutrition and health.
The trial would explore the viability of fruit and veg on prescription as a long-term solution to tackling diet-related ill health and food insecurity.
The project has launched as food prices continue to soar and fresh food inflation has reached a record 13.3%.
Alexandra Rose Charity, which launched in 2014, operates in eight locations across the UK, supporting communities via its Rose Vouchers for Fruit & Veg Projects.
Jonathan Pauling, chief executive at Alexandra Rose Charity, said diet-related ill health costs the NHS billions each year.
Prescribing fruit and veg using a social prescribing approach considering a person’s whole life situation could prevent premature death and significantly reduce healthcare costs.
Professor Sir Sam Everington , a GP in Bromley by Bow and Vice President of the British Medical Association, said all clinicians should embrace the prescription of fruit and veg.
“So many long and short-term illnesses deteriorate significantly with a poor diet," Professor Everington said.
"A healthy diet can often achieve far more than any medicines I can prescribe as a GP."
He said fruit and vegetable prescriptions were essential in reversing and preventing illnesses, such as Type 2 Diabetes.
"Much of it is preventable with a healthy diet and good regular exercise. Fruit and veg should be part of every prescription."
Dr Chi-Chi Ekhator, GP Lead at the Beacon Project and vice-chair of the Ascension Trust, said the scheme was "absolutely key" to tackling health inequalities in many vulnerable communities.
"As a GP, I continue to hear more and more from patients who have to make choices such as eating or heating as they grapple with the economic climate," she said.
Dr Ekhator said others were forced to forego looking after their chronic diseases in the face of rising costs.
During the 12-month pilot, Rose Vouchers for Fruit and Veg would be distributed to a target group of 122 residents across both boroughs.
The chosen patients would be those who are at risk of, or have, conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or mental health conditions and are struggling financially.
Tower Hamlets currently had the highest poverty rate (39%), child poverty rate (56%) and income inequality of all London boroughs, while Lambeth also had a high rate of chronic disease and health inequality.
After the success of the pilot was evaluated, it could be rolled out across the UK subject to funding.
The launch of the pilot project comes just months after the Mirror reported on a warning issued by nurses - that children were being taken to hospital with scurvy because their parents couldn't afford to feed them fruit and vegetables.
In 2021, a huge rise in cases the Victorian illness was reported.
There was tripling of hospital admissions for malnutrition since 2010, which was branded "a shameful indictment on a decade of the Tories" by Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth.
Hospitals reported cases of scurvy – a vitamin C deficiency that can cause fatigue, bruised skin, swelling of the limbs and tooth loss – rising from 82 in 2010-11 to 171 in 2020-21.
Parents using foodbanks say kids as young as five are developing symptoms, which include inflamed cheeks.
