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by Dr. Victor Chen
Literally everyone has a family history that includes a chronic illness such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer. You may be concerned that you carry a genetic predisposition to one or more of these diseases. But the good news is that with proper nutrition, including dietary supplements, you can rewrite your life story with happier ending.
Yes, genetics may definitively determine that someone will develop a disease, but to what extent these genes are expressed are influenced by many lifestyles factors, with nutrition arguably the most important of those factors.
THE LINK BETWEEN NUTRITION AND CHRONIC DISEASES
The increase in chronic illness is one of the major health stories of our lifetime. We are living longer and under greater stress, both contributing to the disease burden in our aging society. Today seven of ten adults will die from the complications of a chronic disease, including heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, depression, metabolic and digestive disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, fibroids, and osteoporosis, to name a few.
Nutrition is and should be an integral part of the therapies we use against diseases. This because many of the diseases that plaque us today are connected to our diet and even medicines prescribed by doctors to deal with the diseases has to be done in the context of the food we eat. More importantly, we should view nutrition not only as part of therapy but in preventing diseases.
Many patients are surprised to learn that their chronic condition or disease can so often be traced to a nutritional deficiency. But the linkage is clear enough. Nutrition affects our immune sytem, organ function, hormonal balance and cellular metabolism.
POOR NUTRITION AND INACTIVITY TYPICALLY CONTRIBUTE TO EXCESS BODY WEIGHT AND OBESITY, WHICH, IN TURN INCREASES AN INDIVIDUAL’S RISK OF DEVELOPING MANY TYPES OF DISEASES.
The nutrition deficiency come first, followed some years later by symptoms, which in time leads to diseases. To make things worse, the whole downward spiral is accomplish by accelerated aging.
Poor nutritrion and inactivity typically contribute to excess body weight and obesity, which, in turn increases an individual’s risk of developing many types of diseases.
Proper nutrition reduces the risk of numerous diseases, including certain cancers. Do you know that there is a direct link between dietary choices and 30 to 40 percent of cancers?
Good Nutrition involves eating a variety of healthful foods - especially fruits and vegetables, which are rich in antioxidants. These nutrients protect the body against the tissue demage that results from normal metabolism. Because this tissue demage is linked to increased cancer risk, antioxidant nutrients may play an important role in cancer prevention.
A good way of bridging the gap in nutritional dificiency that you may experience due to your lifestyle and eating habbits is by supplementing your diet with a good combination of supplements.
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