OPINION
Food
as medicine
I
n our high-tech society, where industry drives profit and most of the day is spent at work, eating has become something to do quickly and often while staring at a screen. This has normalised feeding with unnatural food, getting sick because we eat unhealthily and too much, and the tendency to silence the body’s protests with medications. In doing so, we have effectively industrialised and neglected our nourishment, allowing preservatives and artificial sweeteners to be part of our routine diet.1 Most of us are aware that the main and simplest recommendation for a healthy diet is to choose simple, natural ingredients, always paying attention to the variety and biodiversity of foods. However, it can prove difficult to put the advice into practice. In the face of the global epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases, there is a need to identify innovative strategies for individuals, families and communities to learn how to access and prepare affordable and nutritious foods, with
evidence-based guidance on diet and lifestyle. These approaches also need to address issues of equity and sustainability.2 With healthcare expenditures at record levels across the globe, it is critical to implement a treatment plan that offers greater health improvements than medicines and at less cost. Food as medicine (FAM) is the answer to not only improving human health but also addressing planetary health.3 DEFINING FAM The concept of FAM – a philosophy that dates to Hippocrates’ famous statement to "let food be thy medicine" – is emerging as a radical solution.4 Due to the global burden of nutrition insecurity and related conditions, there’s increased experimentation around medical nutrition therapies with the use of food-based interventions to prevent, manage and treat illness.5,6 But how can we reclaim health through nutrition? An obvious barrier is
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Giuliana Rocca ANutr
the daily cultural paradox, where at the end of a long day at work we are glued to the TV screen to relax, possibly in front of cooking programmes. Paradoxically, we claim there is rarely time to actually cook. This creates a shift from active participation in food preparation to passive consumption of ready-made meals.7 This is why nutrition education and cooking training are a vital part of the FAM approach. The four pillars of FAM, as outlined by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, are:8 1. Preventative medicine: encouraging health to stop disease before it starts. 2. Nutrition security: ensuring equitable access to foods that promote optimal health, rather than just ‘not starving’. 3. Disease management: using food as a targeted therapy for a diagnosed condition. 4. Food safety: protecting the food supply from pathogens and harmful chemicals.