We all know that diabetes is one of the biggest problems in healthcare. We also know that many people can improve their situation with diabetes through programs that address things like diet and weight loss. Of course, implementing those programs and changing people’s behaviors is easier said than done.
One company that’s working to address this is Fruit Street. To learn more about how their diabetes program works, I sat down with Laurence Girard, Founder and CEO at Fruit Street. To kick off the interview, I ask Girard if we can really prevent diabetes. He suggested that they’d modeled their program after a CDC effort that has been show to produce those results and was covered in this New England Journal of Medicine article.
Check out the full interview for all the details on the program, but it uses a mixture of group access to a dietitian and community along with what amounts to an education program that was used in the CDC effort mentioned above. Plus, this is all offered virtually. We asked Girard about the pros and cons of having it virtual and how it was for participants. Plus, the program also includes access to wearables to measure participants progress in the program.
I also asked Girard if this approach really scales to the problem. His answer dives into the details of how using the virtual and group format, they can pretty effectively scale dietitians to the need. He suggested the bigger challenge is actually getting the patients involved in the effort.
If you want to learn more about Fruit Street’s diabetes program, check out the interview below.
Learn more about Fruit Street: https://www.fruitstreet.com/
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