ModifyHealth, an Alpharetta-based startup that provides diet coaching and meal deliveries to help customers manage diseases, raised $13.5 million this month, the latest investment in a company that is trying to address one of the biggest issues facing American health care.
The organization is part of a growing trend of food-as-medicine companies, which ModifyHealth founder and CEO G.B. Pratt described as “providing an alternative to pharmaceutical solutions through lifestyle” to improve health and well-being.
ModifyHealth had raised about $15 million before its most recent funding round but is now fielding even more interest from investors because of the incoming administration, Pratt said. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be Health and Human Services secretary, is seen by many as a champion of the food-as-medicine industry.
“You can feel the momentum building in the space,” Pratt said. “The one thing that’s happening right now that (Kennedy) will be a part of, for sure, is raising the profile of one of the most important issues this country is facing.”
ModifyHealth was founded in 2019 after Pratt talked with doctors about one of their biggest pain points — treating diseases that are tied to diet. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for more than 700,000 deaths in 2022, and diabetes is the eighth-leading cause, accounting for more than 100,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The experience for most patients is you go to a doctor, you’re told you have a chronic condition … and you’re given a piece of paper that says, ‘Hey, go home and why don’t you start this new diet, or get healthier or lose weight or do an elimination-reintroduction (diet),’” Pratt said.
“The odds of any patient going home and restocking their pantry, learning a new way to cook, dealing with friends and family that don’t want to adopt the same diet — it’s challenging,” he added.
ModifyHealth tries to drive long-term behavior change by using tailored prepared meals and dietitians to teach customers how to eat to help manage illnesses like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, fatty liver disease and more.
The meals are based on the Mediterranean diet but can be tailored to fit individual food sensitivities and preferences. The six-week program with a dietitian is $399, plus the price of meals. Customers can also just order meals, which cost $13.45 per entree. Pratt said the dietitian services can often be reimbursed through insurance as more and more plans see that it is less expensive to treat the root cause of diseases before patients get to the hospital.
Credit: handout
Credit: handout
Pratt knows firsthand how difficult it can be to manage a diet-related illness. About 20 years ago, doctors thought a constellation of symptoms he was having was multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the nervous system. That diagnosis turned out to be wrong.
“It was a scary diagnosis to get,” he said. “They did all the scans; it turned out not to be MS. But it took us months and months to finally figure out that I had a gluten intolerance.”
Back then, finding gluten-free alternatives was difficult, but once Pratt stopped eating it, all his symptoms went away: “It really helped drive home this connection between what we’re putting in our bodies, our nutrition and our overall health and well-being.”
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