Farmers’ markets are coming to 71 hospitals: prevention starts at the dinner table
One hundred thousand people have taken part in the initiative organised by Coldiretti, the Campagna Amica Foundation and the Aletheia Foundation. Gasbarrini (Gemelli): nutrition is crucial to well-being
Key points
Almost 100,000 people across 71 participating hospitals in all Italian regions, over a thousand farms, and dozens of regional institutions and health authorities have joined forces with doctors, nutritionists and volunteers to uphold a simple principle: prevention starts at the dinner table.
These are the results of “Campagna Amica per la Salute”, the initiative promoted by Coldiretti, the Campagna Amica Foundation and the Aletheia Foundation, which involved some of the leading Italian and European hospitals, from the Agostino Gemelli IRCCS University Hospital and the Isola Tiberina – Gemelli Isola in Rome to the Niguarda Hospital and the IRCCS National Cancer Institute Foundation in Milan; from the Gaslini Hospital in Genoa to the Sant’Orsola Malpighi Hospital in Bologna; and on to the Policlinico di Bari, the Ospedali Civili in Palermo, the Sant’Onofrio Pausilipon Children’s Hospital in Naples, the San Giovanni di Dio Hospital in Florence, the Città della Speranza Children’s Hospital in Padua and the Annunziata Civil Hospital in Cosenza.
Institutional meeting at the Gemelli
The day began with an institutional meeting at the Agostino Gemelli IRCCS University Polyclinic, the first hospital to launch the project in partnership with Coldiretti, the Campagna Amica Foundation and the Aletheia Foundation. ““We are tired of seeing patients with conditions that could be prevented,” said Antonio Gasbarrini, scientific director of the Gemelli University Hospital Foundation and chair of the scientific committee of the Aletheia Foundation. “We know that nutrition is crucial, especially during the first twenty years of life.” The science of the microbiome has shown us that health is not merely the absence of molecular disease: it is the resilience of a complex biological ecosystem, shaped by what we eat, the environment in which we live and the experiences we go through.”
For this reason, Gasbarrini added, “bringing a farmers’ market to seventy Italian hospitals is not merely a publicity stunt, but proof that the integration of safe food environments and healthcare infrastructure is possible today”.
The findings of a Coldiretti/Censis Istant report
On the other hand, according to a Coldiretti/Censis Instant Report entitled “Eat well to live better”, presented today as part of the initiative, 97 per cent of Italians consider healthy eating essential for preventing diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity, but they often find it difficult to distinguish between food that is good for them and food that is bad for them. Consequently, 88 per cent of citizens want to know the true origin of a food product and its ingredients.
