Is food the best medicine? If you have been following me for long, you know how I always talk about how food acts as medicine. What you choose to eat has profound effects on your overall health.

Research shows that dietary habits influence disease risk. While certain foods may trigger chronic health conditions, others offer strong medicinal and protective qualities.

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Thus, many people argue that food is medicine.

Yet, diet alone cannot and should not replace medicine in all circumstances. Although many illnesses can be prevented, treated, or even cured by dietary and lifestyle changes, many others cannot.

This article explains the medicinal effects of food, including which foods should and shouldn’t be used for healing.

 

Food as Medicine

How food nourishes and protects your body

Many nutrients in food promote health and protect your body from disease.

Eating whole, nutritious foods is important because their unique substances work synergistically to create an effect that can’t be replicated by taking a supplement.

 

Vitamins and minerals

Although your body only needs small amounts of vitamins and minerals, they’re vital for your health.

However, Western diets — high in processed foods and low in whole foods like fresh produce — are typically deficient in vitamins and minerals. Such deficiencies can substantially increase your risk of disease.

For example, insufficient intakes of vitamin C, vitamin D, and folate may harm your heart, cause immune dysfunction, and increase your risk of certain cancers, respectively.

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Beneficial plant compounds

Nutritious foods, including vegetables, fruits, beans, and grains, contain numerous beneficial compounds, such as antioxidants.

Antioxidants protect cells from damage that may otherwise lead to disease.

In fact, studies demonstrate that people whose diets are rich in polyphenol antioxidants have lower rates of depression, diabetes, dementia, and heart disease.

 

Fiber

Fiber is an essential part of a healthy diet. It not only promotes proper digestion and elimination but also feeds the beneficial bacteria in your gut.

Thus, high-fiber foods like vegetables, beans, grains, and fruits help protect against disease, decrease inflammation, and boost your immune system.

On the other hand, low-fiber diets are associated with an increased risk of illnesses, including colon cancer and stroke.

 

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Protein and healthy fats

The protein and fat in whole, nutritious foods play various critical roles in your body.

Amino acids — the building blocks of protein — aid immune function, muscle synthesis, metabolism, and growth, while fats provide fuel and help absorb nutrients.

Omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in foods like fatty fish, help regulate inflammation and are linked to improved heart and immune health.

Whole, nutritious foods boast vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, protein, and fat, all of which promote health and are key to optimal bodily function.

 

A healthy diet can decrease disease risk

Notably, nutritious foods may decrease your risk of disease — while the opposite is true for highly processed foods.

Unhealthy food choices can increase disease risk

Unhealthy diets high in sugary drinks, fast food, and refined grains are a main contributor to conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

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These processed foods harm your gut bacteria and promote insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, and overall disease risk.

A study in over 100,000 people found that every 10% increase in ultra-processed food intake resulted in a 12% increase in cancer risk.

Additionally, a study on worldwide mortality and disease showed that in 2017, 11 million deaths and 255 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were likely due to poor diet.

DALYs measure the burden of disease, with one unit representing the loss of one year of full health.

 

Nutritious diets protect against disease

On the other hand, research indicates that diets abundant in plant foods and low in processed products strengthen your health.

For instance, the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in healthy fats, whole grains, and vegetables, is linked to a reduced risk of heart disease, neurodegenerative conditions, diabetes, certain cancers, and obesity.

Other eating patterns shown to safeguard against disease include plant-based, whole-food-based, and paleo diet.

In fact, some diets may reverse certain conditions.

For example, plant-based diets have been found to reverse coronary artery disease while very-low-carb lifestyles may help eliminate type 2 diabetes in some people.

What’s more, nutritious eating patterns like the Mediterranean diet are tied to better self-reported quality of life and lower rates of depression than typical Western diets — and may even boost your longevity.

Such findings prove that robust diets indeed function as preventative medicine.

 

SUMMARY

Following a healthy diet can increase longevity, protect against disease, and improve your overall quality of life.

 

Can food treat disease?

While some dietary choices can either prevent or increase your disease risk, not all diseases can be prevented or treated through diet alone.

Many other factors affect your health and disease risk

Disease risk is quite complex. Although a poor diet can cause or contribute to illnesses, many other factors need to be considered. 

Genetics, stress, pollution, age, infections, occupational hazards, and lifestyle choices — such as lack of exercise, smoking, and alcohol use — also have an effect.

Food cannot compensate for poor lifestyle choices, genetic disposition, or other factors related to disease development.

Beware of false advertising

While scientific evidence shows that food can aid various health conditions, anecdotal claims of curing or treating diseases through extreme dieting, supplements, or other methods are often false. 

For example, diets advertised to cure cancer or other serious conditions are typically not backed by research and often prohibitively expensive.

Take Home:

Although many foods have strong disease-fighting benefits, diet should not be considered a replacement for conventional medicine.

Is food the best medicine? Choose what you eat carefully as your diet determines your health.

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