Nutritional Medicine After graduating from Medical School and completing GP training, I became bored and disillusioned with symptom based prescriptive medicine. Prescribing a drug for a person’s symptoms without investigating and addressing the cause just didn’t make sense to me. I undertook further training in Nutritional Medicine and found that many illnesses are diet and nutrition related. While the conventional medical approach aims for a quick diagnosis and treatment of acute symptoms, the Nutritional Medicine approach aims to get to the source of the symptoms as well as promoting health, wellbeing and longevity. Over 60% of deaths in Australia result from nutrition related disorders, and Australia has overtaken America as the most obese country. “Good nutrition leads to health and resistance to disease; poor nutrition leads to ill- health and susceptibility to many diseases.” Nutrition- Chapter 10.3 Oxford Textbook of Medicine, Third Edition 30-40% of all cancers can be prevented by diet. Donaldson MS. Nutrition and cancer: a review of the evidence for an anticancer diet. Nutr J. 2004 Oct 20;3:19. Nutritional Medicine “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates. “When the diet is incorrect, medicine does not work, when the diet is correct, medicine is not necessary”- Ayurvedic wisdom. Diet is the major determinant of wellness or illness. Cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes are >50% preventable through diet. Food needs to be good tasting and enjoyable, eaten slowly and part of an active lifestyle. Enjoyment assists in savouring the tastes and textures and may reduce overeating and snacking. Diet controls inflammation, which is the driving cause of illness. Eating styles such as Caloric Restriction (CR) decrease inflammation. CR is the most documented method of extending lifespan and health span in all species studied, and decreases inflammatory cytokines that promote chronic disease such as type 2 diabetes. CR, however, isn’t easy and involves eating 10-25% less calories than the Western Diet, and obtaining a BMI of 19.6. The good news is, is that intermittent fasting may be as effective. This involves fasting for continuous periods of at least 16 hours for two or more days per week. Our diet consists of the macronutrients protein, carbohydrates and fat, and for most people a ratio of 40%30%30% of these nutrients optimises fasting insulin, cholesterol, inflammation, fat storage and body composition. It is best to avoid carbohydrates that do not contain phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are plant compounds that have protective antioxidant properties. eg brightly coloured vegetables are preferable to potatoes. A diet high in simple carbohydrates can lead to high insulin levels in the body, and then insulin resistance, where the insulin hormone does not work well leading to blood sugar imbalances, inflammation and obesity. Insulin resistance can predict a variety of age-related diseases, and individuals with the highest insulin levels have higher rates of hypertension, stroke, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Healthy people with a high degree insulin resistance have a one in three chance of developing one of these illnesses over time. Obesity and insulin resistance result from consumption of high density low quality foods, such as fast foods which contain refined starches, sugars, unhealthy fats and are poor in natural antioxidants and fibre. This type of food activates the immune system and produces pro-inflammatory cytokines and decreases production of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Inflammatory cytokines produce insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction (abnormal function of the inner layer of blood vessels, leading to cardiovascular disease and stroke), metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes. Thus, fast foods are fast in preparation and are fast in producing health damage! Fast foods speed up inflammation and slow foods slow it down. So, what can you do? 5 easy tips to improve your diet 1)Diet- as best as you can do it 2)Increase Omega 3; 8 gm per day of EPA + DHA- eg oily fish such as sardines or salmon 3)Improve intake of phytonutrients with 8 x 100 g servings vegetables per day 4)Calories- not too many, enjoy your food and don’t eat more than you need 5)Don’t drink calories- drink water or green tea
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 07:30:00 +0000
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