Is food medicine?

December 02, 2023

Is food medicine?

I see this concept popping up on social media all the time. Influencers touting that you can cure your disease with simple changes to your diet. I think it’s very manipulative to prey on people and blame them for their health conditions.

This blog post is going to answer the question of whether what you eat is causing your health conditions.

a glass of lemonade with mint and lemon slices

Most diseases are not caused by diet:

To put it simply, a disease is when something in your body isn’t functioning how it normally should. There are many types of diseases – lots of things in your body can go wrong! And they usually are caused by your genes, your environment, or have an unknown cause.

Genetics:

Genetic conditions occur when there’s a mutation in genes. This mutation leads to a harmful change in your DNA. Your genes are what you inherit from your parents, so you don’t really get a say in whether you’re getting them or not.

With some genetic conditions, you may only be a carrier, which means you possess some of the genes for that disease but not enough to actually have the disease. This occurs when you get a faulty copy of the gene from one parent. If both of your parents have a mutated gene and you inherit both of them, then you have the combination of genes that result in the disease.

Common hereditary conditions (diseases caused by genes you get from your parents) include: sickle cell anaemia, cystic fibrosis and familial hypercholesterolaemia.

There are also genetic mutations that can occur and result in a condition even if your parents don’t carry the damaged gene. An example of this is Downs syndrome. When this happens, there’s no dietary change you can make that would be your 'medicine'. You can't change your genes.

Environmental:

While your genetics play a role, we also can’t ignore the effect your environment has. Your environment are all the external factors that influence you. This includes where you live, your lifestyle choices, and what you’re exposed to e.g., at work or school. This can contribute to disease too.

You may be more likely to have a certain disease due to your genetic makeup and then your environment can amplify this risk. For example, you may have a genetic predisposition to lung cancer (genes), and then you live in an area that’s highly polluted (environment) this can further increase your risk of contracting lung cancer.

Also, sometimes diseases can be caused without a clear reason. This is called an idiopathic disease and they seem to occur spontaneously.

Again, food can’t really be used as a cure for these situations as it's an external influence.

Some diseases can be managed by diet:

Another point I wanted to make is about specific conditions/diseases that have food based treatments. A prime example of this is coeliac disease, which is an autoimmune condition where your body mistakenly reacts negatively to gluten. Your body attacks the cells in your gut when you eat gluten. As gluten in found in wheat, barley, and rye, the only way to avoid this cellular attack is to eliminate gluten.

Also, if you have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), then you may find that avoiding specific foods can relieve your symptoms. It’s important to note that an elimination diet shouldn’t be started without the support of a dietitian or registered nutritionist.

Type 2 diabetes is another condition that may be initially managed by dietary changes, but some people have to go onto medications too. The dietary changes can be really effective but this doesn't mean it's the same as a prescribable drug.

So, in these cases, you could say food is medicine. But generally, it’s a no.

Lifestyle diseases:

As always, there are exceptions to the rule. Lifestyle diseases are conditions that arise or are worsened by lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, smoking, or alcohol consumption. These are conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.

I want to make it clear that while lifestyle does influence the risk of these diseases you can’t always draw a straight line between them. And as I explained there’s many things that influence disease.

Lifestyle choices can increase the risk of developing certain conditions, but it doesn’t guarantee it. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t make healthy lifestyle changes, but that it’s important to not blame yourself for a condition you may have. There are many factors that influence what we eat and many aren’t always in our control e.g. socioeconomic status or geographical location.

Saying that food is medicine puts the entire responsibility of a disease onto an individual and it’s often not their entirely fault. Blaming yourself may not be the most helpful way to make a change.

Ways to reduce risk of lifestyle diseases:

As I’ve covered, in most cases, food alone isn’t going to treat or prevent disease. You can do everything that’s within your control, ‘right’ but it doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to be disease free. But if you want to reduce your risk of lifestyle diseases like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol there are some things you can do.

Improve your diet:

I don’t think this one will be a surprise, but aiming for a healthy balanced diet is a great way to get all the nutrients your body needs to function at its best. Aiming to get at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetable a day, increasing the amount of fluid you drink, reducing your intake of red and processed meats, and limiting your consumption of ultra-processed foods like cakes and pastries are all good methods to improve the quality of your diet.

Having nutrient rich foods can help your body protect itself and so reduce your risk of disease. I know it might not be possible to make all of these changes to what you eat. But even picking one of them can help to reduce your chances of developing a lifestyle disease.

Increase exercise levels:

Another great way to reduce your risk of developing a lifestyle disease is to be more active.

A sedentary lifestyle is one where you spend most of your time sitting down, and don’t move about much. This may be if you have an office job and spend a lot of the day sat at your desk, for example. People that are less sedentary have increased cardiorespiratory fitness levels and so a lower risk of heart disease. It also reduces the risk of being overweight or obese which can increase your risk of disease.

The exercise you do doesn’t have to be an intense sweaty workout, even something as simple as going for a brisk walk counts and will make a difference! Any movement you can do counts.

I’ve got a blog post on exercise myths here.

Reduce alcohol and smoking:

Smoking and drinking alcohol can also contribute to diseases such as cancer, liver cirrhosis, and COPD.

If you drink alcohol, it’s worth trying to reduce the amount you have on a daily or weekly basis. The UK has a big drinking culture, and it can be forgotten about that alcohol is a known carcinogen. This means we have evidence to show that alcohol can cause cancer. If you’re looking to change this part of your lifestyle, I’ve got a blog post here and will link some resources below.

Smoking is another part of your lifestyle that increase the risk of diseases like cancer, stroke, and heart disease. I know it’s not food, but stopping smoking can have lots of benefits on your health.

There are many diseases that can occur without food being the cause, or the treatment. Even with lifestyle diseases, you can’t always directly draw a line between food and having the disease. But making healthy changes is never a bad thing.

Key points:

A lot of diseases are caused by genetic and/or environmental reasons.
Lifestyle diseases are diseases that can be worsened by factors such as diet, exercise, and smoking.
Only a few diseases can be managed by food alone, e.g., coeliac disease.
You can reduce your risk of lifestyle disease by improving your diet, increasing your physical activity, reducing alcohol, and stopping smoking.
Food isn’t medicine and calling it this can put the blame on people when it their disease might be out of their control.