SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Education And Train-
ing for Health Act of 2022’’ or the ‘‘EAT for Health Act 
of 2022’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) According to 2019 National Health Expend-
iture Account data, the growth in total national 
healthcare expenditures in 2019 reached $3.8 tril-
lion, or $11,582 per person. 
(2) According to the Center for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC) around 90 percent of annual 
health expenditures are for people with chronic and 
mental health conditions. 
(3) According to the CDC most people in the 
United States don’t eat a healthy diet and consume 
too much sodium, saturated fat, and sugar, increas-
ing their risk of chronic diseases. Fewer than 1 in 
10 adolescents and adults eat enough fruits or vege-
tables. 
(4) According to National Center for Chronic 
Disease 
Prevention 
and 
Health 
Promotion 
(NCCDPHP) six in ten Americans live with at least 
one chronic disease, like heart disease and stroke, 
cancer, or diabetes. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
16:54 Oct 07, 2022
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8964.IH
H8964
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
(5) Seven out of 10 deaths among people in the 
United States each year are from chronic diseases 
such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and 
cancer. 
(6) According to NCCDPHP eating healthy 
helps prevent, delay, and manage heart disease, type 
2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases. (5) According 
to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of 
death for American adults. Approximately 659,000 
American adults die each year from cardiovascular 
disease. Coronary heart disease alone costs Amer-
ican taxpayers $363 billion each year. 
(7) Research has shown that following a health-
ful diet, including a plant-based diet, can not only 
reduce symptoms related to cardiovascular disease 
but can also actually reverse damage done to the ar-
teries. 
(8) According to the Journal of the American 
Medical Association, two-thirds of adults in the 
United States are currently overweight, and half of 
those overweight individuals are obese. One in three 
children are overweight, and one-fifth of children are 
obese. The United States spends about $147 to 
$210 billion a year on obesity related diseases, in-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
16:54 Oct 07, 2022
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8964.IH
H8964
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
cluding type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, 
and arthritis. 
(9) An estimated 34.2 million people in the 
United States have diabetes. Another 88 million 
American adults have prediabetes. The Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention predicts that one in 
three children born in 2000 will develop diabetes at 
some point in their lives. Total direct estimated 
costs of diagnosed diabetes increased from $188 bil-
lion in 2012 to $237 billion in 2017. 
(10) A consensus statement endorsed by Amer-
ican Association of Clinical Endocrinology, sup-
ported by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 
and co-sponsored by the Endocrine Society reports 
that plant-based diets and other nutrition interven-
tions aid type 2 diabetes remission. 
(11) According to the American Cancer Society, 
there will be an estimated 1,918,030 new cancer 
cases diagnosed and 609,360 cancer deaths in the 
United States in 2022. That is equivalent to about 
1,670 deaths per day and accounts for nearly 1 of 
every 4 deaths. The National Cancer Institute esti-
mates that cancer-related direct medical costs in the 
U.S. were $183 billion in 2015 and are projected to 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
16:54 Oct 07, 2022
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8964.IH
H8964
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
increase to $246 billion by 2030, a 34% increase 
based only on population growth and aging. 
(12) According to a 2008 survey published in 
Journal of the American College of Nutrition, physi-
cians felt inadequately trained to provide proper nu-
trition advice. Ninety-four percent felt nutrition 
counseling should be included during primary care 
visits, but only 14 percent felt adequately trained to 
provide such counseling. 
(13) A 1985 National Academy of Sciences re-
port recommended that all medical schools require at 
least 25 contact hours of nutrition education. Ac-
cording to a 2009 national survey of medical colleges 
published in Academic Medicine, only 38 percent of 
medical schools met these minimum standards by re-
quiring 25 hours of nutrition education as part of 
their general curricula in 2004. By 2010, that num-
ber had shrunk to 27 percent. 
(14) According to the Journal of Nutrition in 
Clinical Practice in 2010, more than half of grad-
uating medical students felt their nutrition edu-
cation was insufficient. 
(15) Recognizing the importance of nutrition, 
Healthy People 2030—the Federal Government’s 
framework for a healthier Nation—includes a goal 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
16:54 Oct 07, 2022
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8964.IH
H8964
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
(NWS–05) to increase the proportion of health care 
visits by adults with obesity that include counseling 
or education related to nutrition, weight loss, or 
physical activity. According to Healthy People 2030, 
only 24.8 percent of physician office visits included 
counseling about nutrition or diet in 2016. 
(16) According to Mission: Readiness, obesity 
disqualifies 31 percent of youth from serving if they 
so choose. 
(17) According to the Journal of American 
Health Promotion, the military spends well over $1 
billion a year to treat weight-related health problems 
such as heart disease and diabetes through its 
TRICARE health insurance for active duty per-
sonnel, reservists, retirees and their families. 
(18) According to the Department of Health 
and Human Services, racial and ethnic minority 
groups experience higher rates of chronic health con-
ditions, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, 
heart disease, and cancer when compared to their 
White counterparts due to Social Determinants of 
Health, including lack of access to nutritious food. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
16:54 Oct 07, 2022
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8964.IH
H8964
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS