Thy Food Research Articles

Nawyki żywieniowe wybranych grup funkcjonariuszy policji w kontekście redukcji stresu

The aim of this work is to try to draw attention to the relationship between physical activity in one’s free time and the reduction of all kinds of stress symptoms. The authors assume to have worked out theoretical and empirical assumptions that will allow to find effective answers to the question posed: “Is the activity in sports and recreational activities of officers of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Poznan in free time a sufficiently effective form of fighting stress?” During the theoretical research the method of analysis and criticism of the literature, scientific research, monographic analysis and content analysis were used. Whereas, during the empirical research, a method of a diagnostic survey was applied, using a questionnaire consisting of 17 closed questions as a tool. The research was carried out by the authors at the turn of September and October 2017, on a group of 250 officers, from five of selected groups of officers from the Provincial Police Headquarters in Poznan. Correlations between variables were verified with the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. Analyses were performed with the SPSS program. The daily diet is of great importance in the encounter with stress, and it is from changes in the dietary habits that the struggle should begin. Thanks to a proper diet, the body eases the effects of stress much more effectively and strengthens resistance to stress. The reflections discussed in the article illustrate the view that the words of Hippocrates – “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food” (Wikipedia 2018) – are still valid.

Regulation of cell signaling pathways by dietary agents for cancer prevention and treatment.

Although it is widely accepted that better food habits do play important role in cancer prevention and treatment, how dietary agents mediate their effects remains poorly understood. More than thousand different polyphenols have been identified from dietary plants. In this review, we discuss the underlying mechanism by which dietary agents can modulate a variety of cell-signaling pathways linked to cancer, including transcription factors, nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), activator protein-1 (AP-1), β-catenin/Wnt, peroxisome proliferator activator receptor- gamma (PPAR-γ), Sonic Hedgehog, and nuclear factor erythroid 2 (Nrf2); growth factors receptors (EGFR, VEGFR, IGF1-R); protein Kinases (Ras/Raf, mTOR, PI3K, Bcr-abl and AMPK); and pro-inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, interleukins, COX-2, 5-LOX). In addition, modulation of proteasome and epigenetic changes by the dietary agents also play a major role in their ability to control cancer. Both in vitro and animal based studies support the role of dietary agents in cancer. The efficacy of dietary agents by clinical trials has also been reported. Importantly, natural agents are already in clinical trials against different kinds of cancer. Overall both in vitro and in vivo studies performed with dietary agents strongly support their role in cancer prevention. Thus, the famous quote "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" made by Hippocrates 25 centuries ago still holds good.

Healthy Diet a Tool to Reduce Anxiety and Depression

‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’ Hippocrates c. 400BC An upsurge in the use of drugs for treating anxiety and depression has been observed worldwide. The adverse side effects of the said drugs called for a need to discover alternative approaches. Studies on nutritional therapy for anxiety and depression emerged rapidly in the last few years. Alteration in dietary habits in consultation with nutritionist may help reducing these mood disorders. Previous studies have reported several nutritional elements beneficial for mental health and some other harmful for mental health.

Short Note on Mental Health: Anxiety and Probiotics

Hippocrates once said: let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. Recent research in clinical nutrition agrees with Hippocrates opinion about food and health and as general saying Tell me your food I will tell you who you are. It is obvious that food directly influence physical as well as mental health and thereby influence the physiology and behavioural aspects. Research showed that probiotics are used for mental health benefits to host. FAO/WHO (2002) defined probiotics as living bacteria that, which when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit to the host.

Spices: Potential Therapeutics for Alzheimer's Disease.

India has traditionally been known to all over the world for spices and medicinal plants. Spices exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities. In contemporary, Indian spices are used to rustle up delicious delicacies. However, the Indian spices are more than just adjuvant which adds aroma and fragrance to foods. A few spices are very widely used and grown commercially in many countries, contain many important chemical constituents in the form of essential oil, oleoresin, oleogum, and resins, which impart flavor, pungency, and color to the prepared dishes, simultaneously exerts diverse therapeutic benefits. Ayurveda, the traditional systems of medicine in India has many evidences for the utilization of spices to cure various diseases. Some of the activities have been scientifically proven. Among various indications central nervous system disorders are of prime importance and it has been evident in traditional books and published reports that spices in fact protect and cure neuronal ailments. Likewise there are many spices found in India used for culinary purpose and have been found to have reported specific activities against brain disorders. About 400 B.C., Hippocrates rightly said "Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food." This review focuses on the importance of spices in therapeutics and the till date scientific findings of Indian spices in CNS pharmacology and explores the potential of Indian spices to cure CNS disorders.

Anti-carcinogenic and Anti-bacterial Properties of Selected Spices: Implications in Oral Health.

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food", as said by the father of medicine, Hippocrates in 431 B.C. Nature has provided us with a variety of treatment modalities in the form of food. For the first 5,000 years of civilization, humans relied on herbs and foods for medicine. Only in the past 60 years have we forgotten our medicinal "roots" in favor of patented medicines. While pharmaceutical ingredients have their value, we should not overlook the well-documented, non-toxic and inexpensive healing properties of food. As an individual we consume food several times a day without a complete understanding of its innate qualities. As part of a daily diet, food plays a significant role in helping our bodies function at their best. There are hundreds of extremely nutritious foods, but the items in this article do more than providing healthy nutrients. Many of them consist of ingredients with hidden pharmaceutical qualities ranging from anti-inflammatory to anti-carcinogenic agent. They not only boost our innate immunity but also act as an adjunct to medicines for specific treatment. Prevention and management of symptoms can often be improved significantly through the foods we consume regularly. This paper overviews these beneficial traits of food ingredients, consumed on a daily basis, in various oral diseases.

‘Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food’: Hippocrates revisited

‘Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food’: Hippocrates revisited

Treatment of Mild Hypoglycemia.

> “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” > > —Hippocrates It has been well established by studies such as the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) that metabolic control delays the development and progression of microvascular complications in adults with type 1 diabetes.1 Unfortunately, improvement in metabolic control is associated with an increased incidence of treatment-induced hypoglycemia. This is a common side effect of insulin, as well as the insulin secretagogues frequently used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.2 As insulin secretion diminishes in type 2 diabetes, hypoglycemia becomes more frequent and limiting. Five years after initiation of insulin therapy, the rate of severe hypoglycemia is reported to be as high as 35–70 episodes per 100 patient-years, higher than that in type 1 diabetes.3,4 Abnormal glucose counterregulation (and hypoglycemia unawareness) progresses based on the progression of insulin deficiency. Thus, because type 2 diabetes is more prevalent than type 1 diabetes, most episodes of hypoglycemia occur in people with type 2 diabetes.2 In both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, counterregulatory responses to hypoglycemia steadily decline with frequent and repetitive episodes.2 This can become a vicious circle; a hypoglycemia episode impairs defenses against a subsequent episode, and thus hypoglycemia can result in recurrent hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia causes increased morbidity in most people with type 1 diabetes and in many with a long duration of type 2 diabetes and is sometimes fatal.2 There is growing evidence that older adults with known cardiovascular disease (CVD)5–8 and very young children who cannot independently recognize low glucose levels may be particularly vulnerable to adverse events associated with hypoglycemia.9,10 Findings such as these led a workgroup from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and The Endocrine Society (TES) to publish a …

Let not thy food be confused with thy medicine: The Hippocratic misquotation

Background and aimThe link between food and health has been documented since Antiquity. The aim of the article is to show that the alleged Hippocratic phrase “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” is a widespread misquotation, lying at the root of an entire misconception about the ancient concepts of food and medicine. MethodsExamples of publications gathered from the MEDLINE® and Google Scholar databases which cite the phrase verbatim and attribute it to Hippocrates were selected. Then, an extensive review of the works related to food and diet in the Corpus Hippocraticum was made in order to search for the phrase. ResultsAt least for the last 30 years this phrase has mistakenly helped scientists confirm the importance of food to health and highlight new ethical challenges in medicine and dietetics. We showed that at least one biomedical journal per year has cited the phrase. ConclusionThis literary creation has led to an essential misconception. For Hippocrates, even if food was closely linked to health and disease, the concept of food was not confused with that of medication.

Pro-oxidant activity of dietary chemopreventive agents: an under-appreciated anti-cancer property

“ Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” was quoted by Hippocrates more than two thousand years ago and since ancient times the health benefits of different natural agents have been exploited. In modern research, the disease preventive benefits of many such natural agents, particularly dietary compounds and their derivatives, has been attributed to their well recognized activity as the regulators of redox state of the cell. Nevertheless, most of these studies have focused on their antioxidant activity. A large body of evidence indicates that a major fraction of these agents can elicit pro-oxidant (radical generating) behavior which has been linked to their anti-cancer effects. This editorial provides an overview of the under-appreciated pro-oxidant activity of natural products, with a special focus on their ability to generate reactive oxygen species in the presence of transition metal ions, and discusses their possible use as cancer chemotherapeutic agents.

Let thy food be thy medicine: plants and modern medicine

Let thy food be thy medicine: plants and modern medicine

Promoting Healthful Eating Patterns Among Patients With Diabetes

There is a quote attributed to Hippocrates that reads, “Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food.” It is easy to recognize the significance of this advice when working with patients with diabetes. Nutrition therapy has been recognized as a crucial component of diabetes management since the discovery of the disease. General goals of diabetes nutrition therapy are to achieve and sustain blood glucose and blood pressure as near to normal as possible, as well as a lipid profile that decreases the risk for cardiovascular disease; to prevent chronic complications; to address individual nutrition needs; and to maintain the pleasure of eating.1 Although it is recommended that a registered dietitian (RD) experienced in diabetes medical nutrition therapy (MNT) take the lead role in providing nutrition care for individuals with diabetes,1 all health care professionals who see patients with diabetes play a contributing role in promoting healthful eating. For busy clinicians, messages about healthful eating and physical activity often go unsaid because of the short duration of time actually spent face to face with patients. Health care professionals encountering patients with diabetes throughout their course of care can make a difference by reinforcing positive messages about healthful food choices and physical activity and sharing the belief that it is possible to make changes. These brief messages may be more important than clinicians realize. Controversy surrounded the recent revelation from celebrity chef Paula Deen that she had been diagnosed with type …

Dietary agents in the prevention of alcohol-induced hepatotoxicty: preclinical observations

Long term alcohol consumption is one of the important causes for liver failure and death. To complicate the existing problem there are no dependable hepatoprotective drugs and a large number of patients prefer using complementary and alternative medicines for treating and managing hepatic complications. Almost 25 centuries ago, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, proclaimed "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." Exploring the association between diet and health continues even today. Preclinical studies carried out in the recent past have shown that the commonly used dietary agents like Allium sativum (garlic), Camellia sinensis (tea), Curcuma longa (turmeric), Emblica officinalis (Indian gooseberry), Ferula asafoetida (asafoetida), Garcinia cambogia (Malabar tamarind), Glycine max (soyabean), Murraya koenigii (curry leaves), Piper betle (beetle leaf), Prunus armeniaca (apricot), Ocimum gratissimum (wild basil), Theobroma cacao (cocoa), Trigonella foenum-graecum (fenugreek) and Vitis vinifera (grapes) protect against ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity. Mechanistic studies have shown that the beneficial effects of these phytochemicals in preventing the ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity are mediated by the antioxidant, free radical scavenging, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects. The present review for the first time collates the hepatoprotective effects of these agents and also emphasizes on aspects that need future research to establish their utility in humans.

Targeting Inflammatory Pathways by Triterpenoids for Prevention and Treatment of Cancer

Traditional medicine and diet has served mankind through the ages for prevention and treatment of most chronic diseases. Mounting evidence suggests that chronic inflammation mediates most chronic diseases, including cancer. More than other transcription factors, nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) and STAT3 have emerged as major regulators of inflammation, cellular transformation, and tumor cell survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Thus, agents that can inhibit NF-κB and STAT3 activation pathways have the potential to both prevent and treat cancer. In this review, we examine the potential of one group of compounds called triterpenes, derived from traditional medicine and diet for their ability to suppress inflammatory pathways linked to tumorigenesis. These triterpenes include avicins, betulinic acid, boswellic acid, celastrol, diosgenin, madecassic acid, maslinic acid, momordin, saikosaponins, platycodon, pristimerin, ursolic acid, and withanolide. This review thus supports the famous adage of Hippocrates, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”.

Regulation of survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis of tumor cells through modulation of inflammatory pathways by nutraceuticals

Almost 25 centuries ago, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, proclaimed "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." Exploring the association between diet and health continues today. For example, we now know that as many as 35% of all cancers can be prevented by dietary changes. Carcinogenesis is a multistep process involving the transformation, survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis of the tumor and may take up to 30 years. The pathways associated with this process have been linked to chronic inflammation, a major mediator of tumor progression. The human body consists of about 13 trillion cells, almost all of which are turned over within 100 days, indicating that 70,000 cells undergo apoptosis every minute. Thus, apoptosis/cell death is a normal physiological process, and it is rare that a lack of apoptosis kills the patient. Almost 90% of all deaths due to cancer are linked to metastasis of the tumor. How our diet can prevent cancer is the focus of this review. Specifically, we will discuss how nutraceuticals, such as allicin, apigenin, berberine, butein, caffeic acid, capsaicin, catechin gallate, celastrol, curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, fisetin, flavopiridol, gambogic acid, genistein, plumbagin, quercetin, resveratrol, sanguinarine, silibinin, sulforaphane, taxol, gamma-tocotrienol, and zerumbone, derived from spices, legumes, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, can modulate inflammatory pathways and thus affect the survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis of the tumor. Various cell signaling pathways that are modulated by these agents will also be discussed.

Carrots of Many Colors Provide Basic Nutrition and Bioavailable Phytochemicals Acting as a Functional Food

ABSTRACT: Hippocrates, a philosopher who lived from 460 to 359 BC is often quoted as saying, “Let your food be thy medicine and your medicine be thy food.” Having lived just shy of a century at a time when life expectancies were much less, he must have understood the importance of a healthy diet. A diet high in fruit and vegetables has been linked to optimal health in a variety of studies. One vegetable that has gained popularity is the carrot due in part to the introduction of “cut & peel” convenience packages. Although most people in the United States know carrots as an orange vegetable that can be eaten raw or in a variety of cooked dishes, original carrots were yellow and purple. These carrot varieties are currently undergoing phenotypic recurrent selection to improve the profile of compounds considered to be beneficial. This process is called biofortification, which has increased provitamin A content by >40% since 1970. The most novel carrot produced to date is an orange–purple–red variety that not only contains provitamin A activity as α‐ and β‐carotene, but also contains anthocyanins and the nonprovitamin A carotenoid lycopene, of which both are potent antioxidants. A functional food is one that provides benefit beyond basic nutrition. Biofortified carrots of many colors not only provide vitamin A, but may contribute to optimal health. Because supplements have not been shown to be overly beneficial, except for correcting deficiencies, whole food‐based approaches to enhance health by utilizing functional foods such as biofortified carrots should be considered.

Functional Foods as Modifiers of Cardiovascular Disease

There is growing consensus that systemic inflammation is at the heart of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Inflammation is a key feature of the immune system, functioning to defend tissue integrity and function. However, chronic stimulation of inflammatory mediators leads to lasting vascular reactivity, insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia, and, subsequently, chronic disease. Dietary practices to minimize inflammatory stimuli and CVD risk include regular intakes of fatty fish rich in the eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids that compete with the more pervasive membrane fatty acid, arachidonic acid, disrupting the metabolic cascades that stimulate inflammation. Another effective dietary strategy is to consume less arachidonic acid by reducing beef, poultry, fish, and eggs from the diet (e.g., adopting a vegetarian-like diet). Since oxidative stress plays a prominent role in immune system activation, regular ingestion of ample amounts of fruits and vegetables (8+ servings/d) rich in antioxidant compounds, the polyphenols, carotenoids, and vitamin C (e.g., citrus, tomatoes, berries, carrots, and greens), lowers inflammatory mediators and risk for chronic disease. Whole grains, legumes, and nuts have also been demonstrated in clinical trials to effectively reduce inflammatory mediators and risk for CVD. Hence, as proclaimed in antiquity, 'let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food'.

Cell cycle control as a basis for cancer chemoprevention through dietary agents

The development of cancer is associated with disorders in the regulation of the cell cycle. The purpose of this review is to briefly summarize the known sequence of events that regulate cell cycle progression with an emphasis on the checkpoints and the mechanisms cell employ to insure DNA stability in the face of genotoxic stress. Key transitions in the cell cycle are regulated by the activities of various protein kinase complexes composed of cyclin and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) molecules. The cyclins are CDK binding partners which are required for kinase activity and their protein levels are intimately linked to the cell cycle stage. CDK activity can be regulated by other mechanisms, such as phosphorylation events, that may contribute to deregulation of cell cycle and the development of cancer. While fruits and vegetables are recommended for prevention of cancer, their active ingredients and mechanisms of action are less well understood. Here, we briefly present evidence that dietary agents identified from fruits and vegetables can act to modulate the effects of deregulated cell cycle checkpoints, and that this may contribute to the prevention of cancer. The agents include apigenin (celery, parsley), curcumin (turmeric), (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (green tea), resveratrol (red grape, peanuts and berries), genistein (soybean), and silymarin (milk thistle). The teachings of Hippocrates are still true "let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food".

Following Hippocrates’ advice ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’: An alternative method for evaluation of the immunostimulatory potential of food proteins

Following Hippocrates’ advice ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’: An alternative method for evaluation of the immunostimulatory potential of food proteins

Pomegranate power

It seems that Hippocrates had a point, 25 centuries ago, when he said, ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.’ But while fruits and vegetables are, these days, widely recommended for prevention of cancer and other diseases, their action at the molecular level is less than well understood.