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Articles
Nutrigenomics: Food As Medicine
Nutrigenomics is a relatively new field emerging from our knowledge of clinical nutrition and genetics. The study of nutrigenomics aims at understanding how chemicals in food interact with our genes to support or interfere with health. It’s taking the saying “food as medicine” to the next level.
In recent years we have proven that our view of genetic diseases is over simplistic. The theory that one gene always leads to one protein or one metabolite is erroneous. It is certainly true for some genetic conditions but not all and is proving to have much less influence on the epidemic of lifestyle based conditions. These chronic conditions tend to derive from a multitude of dysfuntional pathways, involving multiple genes (polygenic). Consequently, the old paradigm of one common gene mutation or one pill for one ill will be inadequate to reverse this epidemic. Food contains multiple chemicals that communicate with our genes, literally talking to our DNA turning genes on and off that consequently creates a message that is health promoting or illness-promoting. Only the synergy of a multitude of nutritional and chemical molecules are well positioned to interact and regulate gene expression at multiple levels.
This science is empowering. It says you can in many chronic diseases influence your genetic message by providing the proper chemicals that will turn on the health promoting genes and turn off disease promoting ones. Our body is a chemical soup and the environment can influence that soup. We as individuals can control many parts of that environment.
Phytonutrient found in pigment of food and are powerful modulators genes. Different colour spectrum have different actions in our body. This is why there is no one superfood. The only superfood is the rainbow as we continuously need the messages available from the wide spectrum of chemicals.
Action Plan
Are you ready to positively influence your gene expression to one of health?
Step 1
Eat a whole-foods diet.
Step 2
Eat your servings of veggies and fruit
Step 2
Make sure you eat a rainbow on most days
Are you consuming fruits and vegetables from most of these categories daily? Do a diet diary for 1 week. With 5 different colour highlighter, one corresponding to each colour food group highlight your diary. Are the same colours coming up again and again? Are there colours that you barely eat?
Getting back to our roots. Going to the Farmacy
food is most powerful
Action Plan
Adrenal Glands 101
The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and are responsible for the production of some important hormones. A famous med school mnemonic is:
“Salt, Sugar, Sex… the deeper you go the sweeter it gets”
-A wise med student trying to get by
This is because indeed the adrenal cortex is responsible for producing:
Salt Hormones: Aldosterone
Important hormone in regulating the fluid and electrolytes in our body.
Sugar Hormones: Glucocorticoids & Cathecholamines
Cortisol and epinephrine are the predominant glucosteroid produced. Cortisol plays a role in blood sugar metabolism, inflammation and the immune system. Epinephrine influences blood sugar metabolism and our cardiovascular system.
Sex Hormones: Estrogen, testosterone, DHEA
Many forget that the adrenal glands produce sex hormones for both men and women. After menopause, the adrenal glands become the only source of estrogen production for women.
What Harvard Can Teach Us About Dairy
When you hear Harvard experts telling you something, you better be all ears. Every day we see scores of advertisement being thrown our way that makes us believe that milk and dairy products are the major source of calcium and calcium is what will make our bones stronger. But is it just a marketing gimmick or is there any truth to the ad copy?
Got Milk?
Well, if you are to believe health experts and scientists at Harvard, the whole ‘milk is good for you’ routine might just be a party line. In reality, dairy products have not been proven to give any remarkable results for bone health and density and they are hardly the only favorable source of calcium. Here is what you need to know about recent Harvard findings regarding calcium intake.
Calcium and Bone Density
The ideal health plan would include healthy bones – bones that are denser and therefore able to provide safety from stress fractures. Then there is the imminent risk of diseases like osteoporosis, in which the bones become porous and weak and can break at any time, causing fractures and serious physical disability. So how do you prevent yourself from that?
Simply put, Calcium should surely be part of the health routine. But Calcium isn’t the only thing that you need. You also need to increase your intake of Vitamin D (to absorb Calcium) and lower intake of Vitamin A (retinol) which weakens bones. Ironically, fortified milk and other dairy products are high in Vitamin A content and low in Vitamin D.
There is of course one more thing apart from food intake that can help increase bone density: weight bearing exercise. If you really wish to increase bone density and be free from risk of fractures you need to take up running, jogging, weight lifting or even dancing as a regular activity because these make your weak bones denser.
What Harvard Says About Dairy Products
People with lactose intolerance are constantly being told that they are at higher risk of bone disease but that is not really true. Harvard studies suggest that soy products, leafy greens, beans, salmon, sardines, sesame Tahini and sea vegetables all have large amounts of calcium and Vitamin D content that dairy products are supposed to have.
Dairy products on the other hand, have other harmful additions too which can be dangerous to health, like high saturated fat content, high retinol content and high sugar content. All these harmful substances can be the cause of high cholesterol (leading to heart conditions), increased ovarian cancer risk and increased prostate cancer risk.
So basically the Harvard studies recommend non dairy calcium sources over dairy products which are supposedly high in calcium. They also conclude that high protein diets will actually release more acid into the blood stream and this doesn’t count as healthy for bones either. An average amount of protein intake would be less than 68g a day.
A No Brainer: 1 Thing You Need To Know About Your Brain and Aging
A study by UCLA published in the journal neurology demonstrated using brain MRI’s that individuals with more Omega-3 fish oil prevented the aging process in the brain. Individuals with more EPA/DHA had greater brain volumes and better cognitive functions such as problem solving, abstract thinking, multitasking , visual memory and executive function. These cognitive functions are all things affected by dementia.