Your diet may be one of the best preventive medicines available to reduce your risk of certain diseases. Adding or limiting certain nutrients in your diet can affect your risk of chronic diseases such as arthritis, type 2 diabetes and hypertension. By reviewing your diet and making healthy changes you play a role in whether you will develop certain diseases.
Poor Diet Link to Disease
While the fullness of the effects of a poor diet is not known there is a relationship between an unhealthy diet and your risks of certain diseases. If you have a diet that is high in saturated fats, dietary cholesterol and overall calories and lacks adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables you have an increased risk of developing certain diseases. Diseases that have been linked to poor diets include heart disease, hypertension, type 3 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, some forms of cancer and musculoskeletal diseases such as arthritis and osteoporosis.
Specific Nutrients and Disease
Adding certain nutrients to your diet has been shown to decrease your risk of certain diseases. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, lycopene, which is found in high amounts in tomatoes, has been linked to lower rates of prostate cancer. The American Heart Association reports that omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to improvements in heart health. Unsaturated fats can help keep your immune system, brain and heart healthy. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, eating a diet with an abundant amount of whole-grains can decrease your cholesterol levels, reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes and cancer.
Amount of Change
The amount of disease-preventing benefits you reap from a healthy diet depends on the amount of changes you make to your diet. According to the results of a 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and cited by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, making modest healthy changes to your diet leads to modest reductions in your risk of disease. To receive the maximum reductions in your risk of diseases such as cancer and heart disease a low-fat plant-based diet that avoids all animal products is the most effective.
The key is that the more you eliminate animal-based foods from your diet and replace them with healthy plant-based foods the more you will reduce your risk of disease. Therefore, even making small changes, such as eliminating beef and whole-fat dairy products or going meatless one or two days a week will help lower your risks. Simply by reducing your saturated fat intake, eliminating trans fats, increasing your fiber intake and keeping your weight at healthy levels you can lower your risks of cancers, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, but the amount of reduction in risk will vary from individual to individual.
Plant-Based Diet
The disease-reducing benefits of a plant-based diet are derived from an increase in plant-based nutrients and avoidance of unhealthy saturated fats. To benefit from a plant-based diet, it is important to focus your diet around nutrient-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. Highly processed foods are not recommended as a part of a healthy disease-reducing diet, even if they are plant-based.
References
- Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: WHI Study Shows Modest Diet Changes Yield Modest Results
- Journal of Applied Physiology: Effects of Exercise and Diet on Chronic Disease
- Harvard School of Public Health: Health Gains from Whole Grains
- American Institute for Cancer Research: Preventing Prostate Cancer
- American Heart Association: Knowing Your Fats
- American Heart Association: Frequently Asked Questions About Fish
