Food as Medicine

[Scott Walters]

I think there needs to be a fine balance between both points. I will take drugs and surgury if that is my only option, but with a raising risk of iatrogenic disease, I would think prudence is worthwhile (at least for me), and will happily do what i can to help stay clear of any medical intervention that is not nessesary.

Iatrogenesis is a major phenomenon, and a severe risk to patients. A study carried out in 1981 more than one-third of illnesses of patients in a university hospital were iatrogenic, nearly one in ten was considered major, and, in 2% of the patients, the iatrogenic disorder ended in death. Complications were most strongly associated with exposure to drugs and medications.[16] In another study, the main factors leading to problems were inadequate patient evaluation, lack of monitoring and follow-up, and failure to perform necessary tests.[citation needed]

In the United States, figures suggest estimated deaths per year of: [17] [18] [19] [20]

12,000 due to unnecessary surgery
7,000 due to medication errors in hospitals
20,000 due to other errors in hospitals
80,000 due to nosocomial infections in hospitals
106,000 due to non-error, negative effects of drugs
Based on these figures, iatrogenesis may cause 225,000 deaths per year in the United States (excluding recognizable error).[17]

These estimates are lower than those in an earlier IOM report, which would suggest from 230,000 to 284,000 iatrogenic deaths.[17
(from wikipedia).

So to me, yes I consider food to be part of my medicine.

[Graeme Moore]

I'd be interested to know how much effort people put into micro-managing other areas of life that can severly impact health. Air pollution, radiation from electrical products, emotional stress, soil quality their organic food's grown in, ........................... If you think about it too much then say hello to a long life of neuroses.

[Bill M. Hesse]

I would say that food is a component to health and not a treatment for it so much. I wouldn't consider good or mediocre fuel as better or worse maintenance for my vehicle as it is required for it to run to cause wear and the need for maintenance to begin with. Some basic facts exist and they are what I use to guide my life with:

1. We all die. We don't get to chose when or how. All we can do is live the best life we can with the knowledge that we have.
2. Don't make anything your life work as attachment is the source of suffering. Do your work and then be done with it.
3. Don't make choices because they "feel" right. Most marketing capitalizes on your feelgood factor and your heart will mislead you more than it will help you. (listen to your brain)

[Bryan Rowland]

Scott do you have any research that is more recent? Their has been so much change in medicne since tgis time period that your source is out of date. It is good to set the stage however like I said aore recent study would help your point.

[Joey Shishineh]

Not trying to push this film (Food Matters) (WFS). If you have Netflix, it is definitely worth a watch.

Synopsis:
"With a staggering number of Americans suffering from obesity and other food-related maladies, this film takes a timely and hard-hitting look at how the food we eat is helping or hurting our health, and what we can do to live (and eat) better. Nutritionists, naturopaths, scientists, doctors, medical journalists and more weigh in on everything from using food as medicine to the value of organic food and the safety of the food we consume."

[Scott Walters]

Nope, not at my finger tips anyway. I have never read anything to suggest that the rate of iatrogenic disease is getting lower, but if it doesnt sit with someone I would never suggest they change. I am quite happy with my choice to try and improve my health and hopefully avoid the medical model as much as possible. But it is MY choice, and I am unlikley to find a hell of a lot of proof that it works in broad based research (NOT taking drugs does not really make a lot of money), and I would never suggest someone agrees with me, again it is MY choice.

I am well aware that there are many out there that will disagree, and try to suggest to me that antibiotics, pain killers etc are a way to make your healthier, and I will not argue with them. I just find the better I eat, the better I move/exercise and the happier I am, the less I find any need for any pharacuticals. For what it is worth.

[Scott Walters]

Opps, here is one from 2004

http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/13/1/76.full

[Katherine Derbyshire]

Originally Posted by Scott Walters

.
I am well aware that there are many out there that will disagree, and try to suggest to me that antibiotics, pain killers etc are a way to make your healthier, and I will not argue with them. I just find the better I eat, the better I move/exercise and the happier I am, the less I find any need for any pharacuticals. For what it is worth.

I think it's more a question of placing each discipline in the appropriate domain.

There's certainly abundant evidence that diet, exercise, and other lifestyle factors reduce the risk of various chronic ailments. I don't deny that.

But even active people with healthy diets get sick. They catch infectious diseases, they get cancer, they get injured in accidents, they pull bad cards in the genetic lottery. And modern medicine actually has a pretty solid track record in those situations.

So I don't see it as food OR medicine, or that food IS medicine. Rather, my prescription for maximizing well being would include food AND medicine, each in the appropriate situations.

Katherine

[Scott Walters]

Can things happen? Yes of course. Do we have zero control over our health? No, I do not belive that. But basically you are stating the exact same thing as i did, with a different emphasis, so we are basically in agreance. Being that lifestyle and disease has been the main part of my recent postgraduate training, I guess I will have a slightly different perspective than most.

[Sara Mathews]

Originally Posted by Rick Thornton

Sara, there is a strong bias toward the so-called Paleo way of subsisting within this world of Crossfit. It's perfectly okay to be curious about why people eat what they eat, but I suspect you might be wanting permission to not eat meat or to not be afraid of carbohydrates. You have my permission. Long life and freedom from dietary lifestyle diseases are the domain of such populations of vegetarians/vegans as Seventh-Day Adventists and the generations of Chinese studied in the book "The China Study," and they would grant you permission, as well.

I'd give no quarter, either, to those who might say that a vegetarian diet can't also adequately fuel athletic performance.

Great discussion all!

Not looking for permission for anything here, I've been experimenting with what makes me feel the best and am on the right path.

As stated in the OP, my thoughts on diet relate primarly to a preventative measures or in relation to chronic illnesses that can be controlled or reversed with diet, ie, diabetes. Obviously we want sterile fields, antibiotics (when actually needed), vaccines, and other modern medical advances, particularly with regard to acute illness or injury.

I just spend a great deal of my job teaching nutrition and am sometimes surprised that others don't see their diet as a powerful tool in their overall well being. Perhaps I am just more entrenched in nutrition and medicine than typical which leads me to think this way. This is where my question came from, as a poll on attitudes towards nutrition and health.

And yes, I do enjoy the heck out of my food, from cooking to eating. I'm not forcing myself to take my "medicine". I'm a "foodie", just with an eye towards overall health.

We are all going to die, I fully accept this. I just want to feel the best I can while I'm here. I'd rather have a pleasant short life than a long unpleasant one.