The Power of Food

The thing I find most fascinating in nutritional therapy is how our food affects our bodies and mind.  I admit, the biochemistry and scientific studies can be baffling to read at times, but the way the body works is amazing to me.  If you think about it, the only inputs we really need for our bodies to work are air, food, water and sunlight.  Yet from these few things our body makes muscles, skin, blood, hormones, digestive enzymes, hair, etc, etc.  Everything that our body makes and does is the result of these inputs.

We know that what we eat can affect our weight, mood and heart health, and that deficiencies can make us ill.  Unfortunately the levels of very few nutrients are actually tested to identify deficiencies meaning that many go untested and therefore the majority of us are unaware of the importance of most nutrients.

Of course not all foods are good for us.  And, while the right balance of foods can support our health, the wrong balance can actually harm our health.  Using my logo, I’ll break the food and nutrient groups into four key areas: fats, carbohydrates, proteins and plants, to look at this in more detail.

Fats help us to absorb other important nutrients, protect our organs, support our joints, produce hormones, and support cell growth.  So, why have we been encouraged to be scared of them?

There are different groups of fat, and within them many types of fatty acids.  This means that while the groups of fat have been labelled as ‘good’ (unsaturated) and ‘bad’ (saturated), they each contain a mix of fatty acids with varying properties.  For example, the demonised saturated fat group includes the fatty acid lauric acid, which has been associated with an increase in HDL (‘good’) cholesterol.  Meanwhile, unsaturated fats include the omega-6 fatty acids, which are believed to contribute to inflammation.  However, inflammation is important for health, in the right amount.  The problem with the western diet is that we typically consume too much omega-6 in relation to the anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, contributing to health concerns.

The long held beliefs around saturated fat and its contribution to cardiovascular disease are now being called into question with more recent studies suggesting that saturated fats are not associated with heart disease.  Further, saturated fat is also associated with the liver’s production of cholesterol, which is not as terrible as you may have been led to believe.  We need cholesterol, without it we wouldn’t exist.  But, we need to have the right balance of cholesterol to be healthy (individuals with cholesterol balance problems are likely to be advised to reduce their saturated fat intake to help rebalance their levels).  Ensuring your diet includes good amounts of vitamin B3 (niacin) can help to balance your cholesterol level.  Good sources include meat, fish, dairy, brown rice, nuts, seeds and soya beans.

The fat we need to be most concerned about is trans fats.  While very small amounts may be found naturally in dairy and meat products, the biggest dietary sources come from hydrogenated (or partially hydrogenated) vegetable oils.  The fats are made during the process hydrogenation.  They are associated with increased LDL cholesterol, lowered HDL cholesterol, heart disease, increased inflammation, and insulin resistance.  Look out for partially hydrogenated fat/oil, hydrogenated fat/oil or mono and diglycerides of fatty acids on ingredients lists.

Another source of trans fats is vegetable oils that have been heated to very high temperatures.  Exposure to these sources typically comes from places like fast food outlets and fried foods like crisps.  Home cooking with vegetable oils can also result in trans fats.  This is less of a problem with saturated fats that are heated as they tend to be more stable (so frying in butter may be a better choice than vegetable oils!).  I discussed cooking with oils and fats in my previous article about antioxidants.

The story of fats goes much further than what we eat however – we make some fatty acids in our gut from our other foods!  For example, when some of our gut bacteria digest fibres, they produce butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid.  Butyrate has anti-inflammatory properties and so is beneficial to our health.  To make butyrate our gut bacteria like resistant starch from foods such as cooked and cooled potatoes and white rice.  You can also find small amounts of butyrate in food such as butter.

You may be surprised to learn that fibre is a type of carbohydrate.  It is in a non-digestible form which means it is great for supporting our digestion but does not contribute to our energy intake.  Most carbohydrates however do contribute to our energy intake, and while this is very useful the ‘wrong’ carbohydrates can cause problems.

Referring back to the discussion on cholesterol, our liver and intestine produce triglycerides.  These are a type of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and are considered to be more harmful than the standard LDL.  Triglycerides are produced using excess calories, in particular carbohydrates, and are stored in our fat cells until we need the extra energy.  High levels of triglycerides have been associated with inflammation of the pancreas, and hardening of the arteries increasing the risk of stroke and heart disease.  High levels of fat around the waist/belly, high blood pressure and high blood sugar may indicate high levels of triglycerides.

Regardless of whether we consume simple or complex carbohydrates, they are broken down within the body to make glucose, a type of sugar, which we use for energy.  However, simple carbohydrates break down much more easily than complex ones meaning that we release the sugar and energy into our body much more quickly.  To deal with the sugar from the carbohydrates, our pancreas releases insulin to help get it out of our blood and into our cells (if our blood sugar gets too low, the pancreas releases glucagon to get the sugar back out of cell storage).  If we consume large amounts of carbohydrates throughout the day, we need to be producing and using high levels of insulin.  Doing this too much can contribute to insulin resistance as body cells become less responsive.  This can be a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

We need protein for muscles, tissues, bones, hormones, enzymes, immunity, and more!  It is also a source of energy.

Protein is made up of a variety of amino acids.  When we eat protein it is broken down and the amino acids separated before being re-built to form the proteins our bodies need at that time.  Amino acids are grouped as essential and non-essential.  We can only get essential amino acids from our food, and animal products contain them all while very few plant foods contain all of the essential amino acids (quinoa and buckwheat are rare exceptions).  Individuals following a vegan diet need to consume a good variety of protein sources through the day in order to obtain all of the essential amino acids each day.

We can make the non-essential proteins ourselves to some extent, but we must provide the correct supporting nutrients for this to work.

Gluten is a type of protein found in many grains.  In individuals with sensitive guts it can contribute to health problems.  To reduce your risk of developing problems, try to vary your diet so that it is not based around glutenous foods (an example of a potentially problematic menu may be: wheat cereal and toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch with a piece of cake, pasta and garlic bread for your evening meal).  “Gluten free” foods are still allowed to contain small amounts of gluten, but at a level not thought to cause irritation in sensitive guts.  They are also ultra-processed and therefore not considered to be healthful foods as they do not tend to contain any beneficial nutrients without fortification.  If you need to follow a gluten-free diet, start by rethinking your menu and not simply finding replacements for the foods you are used to.

While animal products can give us a wide variety of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), plants can also give us most of these and the macronutrients listed above.  However, science suggests that a diet high in plant foods rather than animal foods offers us the most healthful diets.

Plants can provide elements of the three macronutrients above, the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), fibre and even water.  In fact plants can provide the majority of the nutrients we require in our diets to be healthful with little additional input required (plant sources of vitamin B12 and the omega-3 DHA and EPA fatty acids particularly, are limited and so those following a vegan diet need to consider their intake of these nutrients).

Looking at the benefits of plants, some nutrients that we get from plants but not animal products include:

• Fibre – important to support digestion and gut health (which supports your overall health), lower cholesterol, and reduce the risk of heart disease.
• Vitamin C – important to support the immune system, connective tissues and some enzymes produced and used by the body.
• Flavonoids – supports brain and colon health, and helps to reduce the risk of heart disease
• Quercetin – helps to reduce the risk of heart disease.
• Flavanols – believed to reduce blood pressure, lower cholesterol and support blood vessels.
• Hesperidin (a flavanone) – thought to help reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.
• Resistant starch – thought to help moderate blood sugar after meals.

To help manage your carbohydrate intake and blood sugar, avoid consuming large amounts of starchy vegetables such as white potatoes, carrots, parsnips and sweetcorn.  Grains are also considered to be carbohydrates and your intake should be considered.  Wherever possible choose wholegrains to increase the fibre and protein content (as well as vitamins and minerals).

Interestingly there is no evidence that Hippocrates made this famous statement which is widely used by nutrition professionals (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014299918303595).  I however like to be different and I don’t include it on my main webpages.  Why?  I believe giving our bodies the right food and balance of nutrients is simply giving our bodies the fuel and materials to work well – including some repair processes.

Let’s make healthy normal and optimise our health – think alible!

• a
• b
• c