Why Food Matters

Dr Alan Desmond
Consultant gastroenterologist

As rates of obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes continue to soar, "What should I eat?" has become one of the most important questions of the 21st century. As a doctor specialising in the diagnosis and treatment of digestive health problems, my patients ask me this question all the time. They deserve evidence-based answers.

Each one of us knows intuitively that food can play a vital role in helping us to improve our health, optimise our quality of life and even to heal and recover from illness. The scientific evidence shows that this is true. Food is medicine.

After years spent examining the research on diet, nutrition, gut health and overall health, I am convinced that the more plants and the fewer processed foods on our plates the better. The logical conclusion? A wholefood, plant-based diet. A diet that is built from the nutritious foods that humans have thrived on for centuries – fruits, vegetables, beans, wholegrains, nuts and seeds – can produce incredible benefits in both preventing chronic disease and restoring true health.

Whether we are aiming to prevent or treat heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, digestive cancers, or any of the diseases that have become so common in the 21st century, a plant-based diet has something to offer.

I now start conversations with my patients by asking about the foods they eat each day. By putting more plants on their plates, I have seen individuals of all ages improve both their gut health and overall health, lose weight, improve their mood, and even reverse long-term illness.

A plant-based diet – one built around fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, beans and other legumes – has been consistently rated as one of the most nutrient-rich dietary patterns available to humans. A healthy plant-based diet contains more fibre, folate, vitamins A, C and E, thiamine, riboflavin, magnesium, healthy oils, copper and iron than a diet that includes meat and dairy.

Embracing this healthier approach to food isn't about becoming vegan or vegetarian, or applying any other label to diet or lifestyle. It's about simply choosing to build all your meals (or most of them) from the foods that have consistently been shown to benefit human health. The weight of scientific evidence overwhelmingly favours a wholefood, plant-based diet as the optimal choice for human health and longevity. The more plant-based, the better.

Alan Desmond, a consultant gastroenterologist, was writing in support of Linwoods Health Foods whose philosophy is aligned with his own.