Naturopathic practitioners the world over are struggling not to say “I told you so!”, as growing numbers of mainstream health organisations (finally) begin to embrace the power of nutrition to prevent and even treat some illnesses.
The connection between food, physical and mental health, and general well-being is starting to be taken seriously throughout society. However, as we discuss in this article, there is still a long way to go in showing the connection between what we eat, and our ability to protect all aspects of our health.
What you take out, and what you put IN
The focus to date has largely been on tackling obesity and heart disease with education about the dangers of too much sodium, trans-fatty acids, and processed foods.
Those who study this field know that this is just a ‘taste’ of what naturopathy can bring to the health of the nation.
Fortunately, the global medical-science community agrees. As we regularly highlight on this leading naturopathic website, research is underway on a diverse range of topics, exploring the components and dosages of nutrients that combat common illnesses.
Slowly but surely, there is a more in-depth perception of the nutrition and health principles that have underpinned naturopathy for a long time.
However, much of the mainstream emphasis to date has been on what to take OUT of your diet to improve your health. Whereas we know that it is equally important to focus on what you PUT into your diet, to help prevent disease and rectify health challenges.
A message that needs to go much further than the UK’s ‘Five-a-Day’ campaign for fruit and veg.
Genes v purposeful nutrition
This leads to another aspect of this topic which is slowly becoming better understood.
Until recently, the tendency was to rest the future health of the nation firmly on its genes, and how they leave us ‘predisposed’ to certain health challenges including cancer and heart disease. More recently, attention has swung towards lifestyle and dietary choices.
This is reinforced by research that has demonstrated how a vegan diet can ‘activate’ 500 disease-preventing genes. At the same time as turning off genes connected to illnesses that include breast cancer, prostate cancer and heart disease.
Clearly suggesting that nutrition is more significant than genes in whether we are able to combat illness!
The best naturopathic practitioners are already using this knowledge to help patients address their health needs and deficits. Instead of focusing on genetic traits, they take client case histories based on wider predispositions. Particularly any existing health issues, early family life, and dietary choices. This more comprehensive evaluation then helps practitioners to identify positive changes a patient can make in what they consume.
In other words, the potential for optimum health is within us all.
Consumers and their purchasing choices
What needs to be done to educate more people about the link between purposeful nutrition and health?
It’s the sort of issues that naturopathic practitioners already cover in sessions with clients, and that are beginning to gain traction with the public health bodies. Issues that include knowing the difference between ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ fats, as well as limiting sodium (salt), refined sugars, dairy, and grains in your diet.
Then, the emphasis should be placed on self-empowerment in health, and selecting foods and supplements rich in specific vitamins, minerals, and fibre.
Of course, there is a strong oppositional force at play. Large corporations mass-producing foodstuffs are beginning to reduce trans fats, salts, and additives for example, but they still offer convenience and possibly perpetuate the myth that processed food is cheaper.
As a result, many UK consumers are still some distance away from reflecting NHS Eat Well Guidelines. Foods high in salt, sugar and fat still make up 20% of fast-moving consumer goods sales. What’s worse, sales of those types of foods are growing 2.7% faster than any other grocery products!
Added to this is concern that the post-pandemic shift to more remote working is increasing sedentary lifestyles, taking society another step backwards in its health improvement push.
If you need further evidence that change is not happening quickly enough, then consider this. Despite widespread mainstream education, around 64% of UK adults are rated as either obese or overweight. If that situation is not addressed robustly, by 2050 the NHS will need an extra £9.7 billion in funding to deal with the health impact!
What are the solutions?
How can the health of the nation be protected with far greater success?
The quick answer is spreading the word about the connection between nutrition and health further afield, louder, and with greater urgency! Something you can help with.
Not just as a lone voice promoting purposeful nutrition though. There needs to be more ‘joined up’ promotion of the targets for good nutrition, across all health bodies, charities, media, and the food industry itself.
The information about how to make healthier choices while shopping needs to permeate much deeper into the daily lives of consumers too. Potentially interactive technology in supermarkets and shops, enables them to make well-informed purchases.
Can you imagine how much healthier people would be if advice on the nutritional composition of food – and its impact on their physical and mental wellbeing – was delivered as they shopped?
This may sound farfetched, but global retailers and food producers are beginning to get insightful projects off the ground. For example, the Collaboration for Healthier Lives UK movement is reflecting many naturopathy messages in its work to tie food consumption to “the country’s growing health problems”. This organisation is taking a lead on providing more information to consumers at the point of purchase, as well as via lobbying and online communication.
Consumers clearly want this sort of intervention too.
A Nielson IQ survey measured response to new HFSS (High in Fat, Salt or Sugar) legislation in the UK. It reported that 71% of participants classed food and nutrition as either “extremely” or “very” important. While 57% felt companies that produce or promote unhealthy choices should be taxed more.
Building momentum and dismantling barriers
Change is coming. The long-held precepts of naturopathy are finding their way more decisively into mainstream media and healthcare, as well as into the food industry. Now, we need to increase the momentum.
We can achieve this by, for instance:
• Showcasing the advantages of optimising intake of potassium, magnesium, zinc and selenium through natural sources and supplements.
• Explaining organic v non-organic minerals and the different ways they work within our body.
• Highlighting the importance of products containing the ‘quality’ compounds most in-tune with our biological processes.
• Demonstrating how naturopathy can ‘arm’ people with a more in-depth understanding of nutritional health protection measures (if allowed to communicate in a more unfettered way).
Lastly, one of the most important changes we need to champion is a full review of the restrictive Novel Food Act (EU 2015/2283).
This EU regulation was insidiously adopted into UK law without debate. It is not fit for purpose, limiting the public’s access to alternative food sources and products fortified with the nutritional elements they need.
This is not only something affecting the production of supplements to address purposeful nutrition. The Novel Food Act also hampers products that could address food poverty, strangles innovation in production methods, and undermines global sustainability!
If you hinder the ability to develop and therefore consume alternative foods, then you are once more putting the consumers firmly into the hands of the large-scale organisations who don’t always have long-term health as a driving principle.
For more discussion and information on this and other nutritional developments, please check back with us regularly, and share your views and questions with us by email.
