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NaturalWay – Margit Slimáková

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It's true! We are what we eat

Not so long ago organised medicine opposed the findings of health care practitioners who connect good diet with good health. Do you remember what they said of controversial Harry Hoxsey's discoveries?

The practitioner behind the world's largest privately-owned cancer centre in Texas showed the link between bad food and cancer. 'Wrong eating habits unquestionably contribute to the origin and growth of many of so called incurable ailments,' he told the world's media.

The American Medical Association responded, 'There is no scientific evidence whatsover to indicate that modification in the dietary intake of food or any other nutritional essentials are of any specific value in the control of cancer.'

Harry Hoxsey was a vehement opponent of chemical additives in food. He pointed out that vegetables grown in chemically-treated soil actually robbed them of minerals. Healthy vegetables, he said, must come from healthy soil.

Well, that was some time ago, and I am pleased to reveal that established medical thinking nowadays confirms that diet can both cause and alleviate many chronic health problems. There is an agreement between health care professionals that wise nutrition is the determining factor for the development of the majority of typical chronic health problems. We know that unhealthy eating, smoking, not exercising, keeping completely out of the sun by staying indoors, sleep deprivation, and extreme stress, can lead to many chronic diseases - or at least support their manifestation.

What's new now is the growing number of studies that confirm a link between environmental factors and diseases which had been considered to be predominantly caused by genetic factors.

A child's risk of autism

Autism is a good case in point. Until recently genetics was thought to account for 90% of a child's risk of autism. But a new Stanford University School of Medicine study admits that environmental factors could play a much larger role than previously thought.

Stanford researchers conducted the largest autism study to date and found that a greater number of fraternal twins shared autism than identical twins.

Because identical twins share nearly the same DNA, if there were an important genetic component to autism, then both not just one twin would be likely to be autistic.

Another exiting study has concluded that genes can be altered by diet. This nutrigenomics study - nutrigenomics defines the way genes interact with nutrients - suggests that a diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables appears to mitigate the genetic risk of a heart attack.

The study looked at data of more than 27,000 people from various ethnic backgrounds. It was one of the largest gene-diet interaction studies centred on cardiovascular disease.

Among all the study subjects, those who had the high-risk genotype and ate a diet low in raw vegetables and fruit, had a higher risk of heart attack or cardiovascular disease. However, a diet high in vegetables and fruit seemed to have a protective effect. Researchers found that subjects in the group had a heart attack risk comparable to people with a low-risk genotype.

Our diet is dependent on the environment because that's where food comes from, of course.

There can be little doubt that quality of our soil decides the quality of the plants, and grazing animals. By choosing organic food, organic cosmetics, cleaning products, and organic farm holidays, you'll be supporting the environment - and doing the best for your health.

Written for: http://www.villagepress.co.nz/