Are the articles you see about specific foods preventing disease true? Or Just Click Bait?????
Eating plenty of fruits and veggies is probably the single most important piece of advice that most Americans ignore on a daily basis. As a country, we eat woefully little roughage, and it is undoubtedly hurting our health. But any story that claims eating more [insert fruit or veggie here] will directly prevent you from getting [insert common and specific disease] is misleading you in a major way.
Two recent studies set off a predictable deluge of diet advice. They seemed to imply that 1) eating more leafy greens could stave off brain aging, and that 2) eating tomatoes and apples could repair ex-smokers’ lungs. Both were purely associations. This is not to say that the correlation was wrong—in fact, the correlation almost certainly exists. But that’s not the same as saying that one causes the other.
You may ask : Is this post questioning the click-baitiness of headlines, click-bait in itself?
Great article here by Sara Chodosh, she really brings to light the challenges of preforming nutritional studies compared to clinical trials for a drug. It’s much more difficult to prove that a single fruit or vegetable is responsible for the prevention (or reversal) of certain diseases than it is to show the effects of a drug in a controlled environment. The placebo effect just doesn’t work smoothly with food, but one thing that does stand out is the overall benefits of healthy eating habits. People who develop healthy eating habits (that are dominated by plants) have a collective increase in overall physical and mental health across the board. Even though the evidence linking a specific plant as a cure to a specific disease is lacking, there have been large test studies that show the positive “disease fighting” results of diets high in fruits and vegetables.
Multiple large-scale studies (we’re talking hundreds of thousands of people) have shown that the more servings of fruits and veggies you eat, the lower your risk of having problems like a stroke or a heart attack, or even heart disease in general. This seems to hold especially true for green leafy foods, cruciferous veggies, and citruses. They can also lower your blood pressure—sometimes by as much as a medication.
In addition to keeping your body in a healthy balance you’ll see a boost in your natural defense systems. You have cell mutations in your body every day, it comes down the the ability for the cell or immune system to identify these mistakes and destroy them before they begin to multiply at an uncontrollable rate. What we do know is, a healthy lifestyle of consistent exercise, clean eating and steady sleep all play a big role in your bodies immune system response to nefarious cells, bacteria and pathogens. Don’t wait and be reactive, there’s enough solid evidence out there, don’t become a statistic. Put yourself in a position to win when adversity strikes.
