Food as Medicine

By Amy Joy Lanou, Ph.D.
Medical Nutrition

It is my belief that food has a powerful effect on our quality of life. Food can be used to treat disease, prevent disease and to promote health and optimal wellness. The concept of food as medicine is not new in the United States, especially among students of the nutritional sciences. The value of nutrition, the science that studies the interaction between food and the body, in medicine has been acknowledged by the medical community for years mainly as a support to medical practices. Physicians acknowledge that nutrients are essential to life and the lack of nutrients or even the lack of specific nutrients can be a cause of a disease or condition. For example, a lack of vitamin C causes the deficiency disease scurvy that can be remedied by feeding the patient vitamin C containing foods. Or the patient post-surgery cannot rapidly heal without adequate protein and energy to fuel the healing process and provide the building materials needed to make new cells.

medicine–1. any substance or substances used in treating disease; a remedy. 2. the art or science of restoring or preserving health, or due physical condition. (The American College Dictionary, Random House, 1964)

As is clear from the above definition, medicine in the U.S. has been largely focused on fixing problems as they occur. Our medical technologies are amazing and their successes are often quite dramatic. We can keep people alive who have undergone the most extraordinary things such as kidney failure or multiple surgeries clearing clogged arteries that innervate the heart. Under extreme circumstances, food, as part of a medical treatment, can be delivered through tubes into the stomach or pre-digested directly into the blood stream.

Preventive Medicine
Another branch of medicine, preventive medicine, or the warding off of disease, has been getting more attention in recent years. Within medicine, treating or warding off disease, nutrition is most valuable as a preventive measure. Our eating habits–what, how much, when, where, and even, how we eat–have a powerful effect on our risk of chronic disease. We eat every day, usually several times a day. The cumulative effect of our daily food choices is much more meaningful from a preventive health standpoint than what we eat on special occasions or dietary changes we might make during illness or even the foods we might eat in the hospital.

Nutrients are substances needed to sustain life; in the West the study of nutrition focuses mainly on the nutrient composition of foods, recipes and dietary patterns. People eat food. The food choices people make result in dietary patterns over time that have a particular nutrient and non-nutrient profile. Some nutrient profiles are considered to reduce one's risk of chronic diseases, such as those that are very low in saturated fat and cholesterol, those that are rich in fiber, omega-3 fatty acids and anti-oxidant vitamins, and those that are low in animal-derived protein and salt. The amount of non-nutrient substances, such as alcohol, additives and contaminants, in a persons chosen dietary pattern is considered important as well. Translating these nutrient profile recommendations into dietary recommendations is fairly straightforward in a general sense–a varied whole foods diet made up predominantly of foods from plant sources. At the individual level it is often more complicated, because factors unique to the individual need to be taken into account such as their personal food preferences, individual disease risk factors, their lifestyle and their current state of health.

Choosing food patterns that help one to avoid feeling sick is an approach to the concept of using food as medicine. This idea is particularly relevant for individuals with a condition or disease known to be related in their individual case to a particular nutrient or food as in food allergies, indigestion, constipation and atherosclerosis. "Avoid dietary patterns that make you sick," is advice that just makes good sense. If a person has a known allergy to a particular food substance such as milk, shellfish, wheat, or nuts, they can avoid having their particular type of reaction, by choosing not to consume foods containing those allergens. A somewhat different example of the same concept is that many individuals who have had coronary bypass surgery or other surgical techniques to re-open clogged arteries are educated about dietary changes that can reduce the build up of artery clogging plaques.

Americans sometimes forget the power of the food we put on our plates. I've often thought that the practice of taking a drug on a regular basis, such as one to reduce the chances of indigestion, before you eat something that you know will make you have symptoms of sickness is rather silly. Why not choose to eat foods that don't give you indigestion instead and avoid the side effects of regularly self-medicating? Constipation is another great example. In most people, constipation is a direct result of our eating and activity patterns. High fat, high protein, low fiber diets, inadequate fluid intake and sedentary lifestyles are the predominant causes of chronic and acute problems with constipation and other related disorders such as hemorrhoids and diverticulosis. Instead of taking a drug such as a laxative that over the long run will complicate rather than alleviate these problems, why not choose a fruit, vegetable and whole grain rich eating style?
Food as Health

From my perspective the power of food goes beyond that of treating or preventing disease--it goes beyond "medicine". Food choices are central to health–they can play a large part in meeting your individual potential for wellness.

Health is the dynamic, ever-changing process of trying to achieve your individual potential in the physical, social, emotional, mental, spiritual and environmental dimensions. Wellness is the achievement of the highest level of health possible in each of the dimensions. (Donatelle and Davis, Access to Health, Bacon, 1999.)

Food is an important feature in all six dimensions of wellness.

Physical–As discussed above, choosing a healthy eating style can improve physical health throughout life by reducing the risk of chronic disease, eliminating some chronic conditions and meeting your nutrient needs. Better yet, appropriate food choices help you to maximize energy level and provide the fuel and other factors necessary for you to perform at your best physically and mentally. Some foods are so good for you physically that I think that part of their deliciousness is in their healthful taste. My examples of super healthy delicious foods include spinach steamed with garlic, a warm tomato picked right out of the garden, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a mixed berry smoothie. Do you have foods that you enjoy in part because they taste like they will make you healthier?

Some people make specific health boosting food choices when they feel like they might be coming down with something. One of my favorite things about getting sick when I was young was the foods that would be offered to make me well. My mother would give me orange juice, toast and hot honey and lemon "tea" when I didn't feel like eating and would make me "bread-with-the-egg-in-the-middle" when I was starting to feel better. My other mom makes the world's best chicken vegetable and rice soup which she would whip up for any of us when we were feeling crummy. Studies have now shown that many of these foods (the "tea",. juice and soup) do contain substances to help you to fight a cold. Now my favorite treat especially when I have a sore throat is Thai Tom Yum soup, made with lemon grass, galangal, hot peppers and mushrooms. It just feels like it is killing the infection as it goes down. Yum is right.

Mental–The most dramatic way that food is needed to boost your ability to think is through providing carbohydrate energy to fuel the brain. Ever noticed that when you get really hungry, you can't concentrate quite as well? Some people even get light-headed and less able to articulate their thoughts when they have gone too many hours without food. Some specific foods such as fish, blueberries and anti-oxidant vitamin rich fruits and vegetables also contain substances thought to improve brain function.

Emotional–Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, gingerbread and applesauce are all foods that I seek for comfort when I've had a bad day. They are made a little differently now than they were when I was growing up, but they still do the trick. Do you have foods from your childhood that you would describe as comfort foods? Issues around food can also influence your emotional wellness‹achieving a positive relationship to food and your body is an important part of emotional health for some people. See the Winning the Food Fightarticle in this month's Virtual Kitchen for more information on this idea. Food is also often a central focus of celebrations for holidays and for those marking accomplishments.

Spiritual–Food rules or restrictions are a regular feature of religious practices. Meat is avoided on Fridays by many Catholics, many Jewish people who keep kosher will only consume meat from animals that have been killed a certain way, cows are considered sacred my many Hindu peoples, thus are not consumed. Some people choose not to consume the flesh of any animal because of their spiritual beliefs. Choosing to go with out food, fasting, or to eat only very minor portions is considered a path to greater spirituality by many people.

Environmental–Our food choices affect the environment we live in; thus, they affect our environmental health. Choosing organically grown produce reduces the chemical inputs into the soil, choosing locally grown and produced foods reduces pollution created in transporting foods long distances, choosing less processed foods reduces the use of energy and resources such as water and energy needed to process the food. Choosing a plant-based diet is a more resource and cost-effective way to eat than choosing a mixed animal and plant-based eating style, because feeding animals requires 10 to 20 times as much feed (thus soil and water) as just eating the grains ourselves.

Social–For many people food is central too social health as well. Dinner parties, business lunches, weddings, potlucks and family gatherings are all social occasions that oftentimes revolve around food. Preparing or giving food is often an expression of love and caring‹as in family dinners, boxes of chocolates as gifts or the making of a favorite dish for a friend's birthday.

Whether you look at it as "food as medicine" or "food as health and wellness" or some combination of the two, food is clearly intertwined with our lives. In many different, sometimes conflicting ways, a person's food choices clearly have an affect on our quality of life.  Read more:Nutritional Therapies for Mental Disorders