For Eleanor Benally, a grandmother living in Navajo Nation, managing her heart failure meant constant worry about ending up back in the hospital. Like many people in her community, she struggled to find healthy food that felt familiar and nourishing. But a new kind of treatment changed everything: meals made from traditional Navajo ingredients, delivered right to her door.
A clinical trial called MUTTON-HF tested this approach with 206 adults receiving care at two Indian Health Service locations in Navajo Nation. Half the participants received their usual medical care. The other half got two medically tailored meals daily for eight weeks, featuring traditional Diné foods like blue corn, beans, and squash, prepared by Tocabe, a Native-run kitchen, in partnership with Navajo dietitians and local farmers.
The results were striking. Within 90 days, only 12.3% of patients eating the traditional meals were hospitalized for heart failure, compared to 26% in the usual care group — cutting those hospitalizations by more than half. Overall, just 40.6% of meal program participants ended up in the hospital or emergency room, versus 57% of those who received standard care. That works out to a 29% reduction in emergency visits.
Beyond the numbers, people reported feeling better. Participants lost weight, lowered their blood pressure, and ate more fruits and vegetables. They also reported less stress about affording food — a problem called nutrition insecurity that hits many Indigenous communities hard.
"Food heals in many ways: through good nutrition, culture, identity, and connection," said Dr. Sonya Shin, a senior author of the study from Mass General Brigham. Dr. Lauren Eberly from the University of Pennsylvania, who led the research, put it this way: "This study shows the power of centering communities and leveraging their assets to advance holistic health and well-being."
The study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, is part of a growing movement called "Food is Medicine" — the idea that what people eat can be just as powerful as medication. Researchers designed the meals to meet American Heart Association nutrition guidelines while honoring the foods and recipes that have sustained Navajo families for generations.
The findings suggest this kind of culturally grounded healthcare could reshape how hospitals treat chronic diseases, not just in Navajo Nation but everywhere communities face barriers to healthy eating. For Eleanor and others like her, the takeaway is simple: the food of her ancestors may have saved her life.