Cancer is a disease of more than 100 hundred different types and most common types of cancers in the western world are lung, breast (women), prostate (men) and colon & rectal and skin cancers. Each cancer has parallel yet distinct origin with a lethal tendency to escape from the original site, enter the bloodstream, and spread to other sites in the body through a process known as metastasis. Although one hundred years of intense biomedical research has yielded tremendous breakthroughs including the discovery of radiotherapy and chemopreventative drugs that can be used in treatment for cancer patients, cancer as a disease remains largely incurable.

This is because cancer is a complex and a formidable disease. Cancer occurs when the process of normal cell division goes awry, leading to uncontrolled and unchecked cellular growth. We now know that cancer at the cellular level is a genetic disease caused by DNA damages in the cell. DNA is the genetic material for all known living organisms with the exception of some viruses which use ribonucleic acid (RNA) as their genetic material. All the information needed for normal cell processes, such as growth and division, are contained in these DNA sequences, on genes. Human beings have about 25,000 genes encoded in their DNA. Thus, any damage to DNA that affects the expression of these genes can lead to cancer. Many external as well as internal factors that cause DNA damage can result in cancer and the accumulation of these DNA damages over several years that leads to cancer. Consequently, one of the major risk factors associated with most types of cancer is age.

Despite these broad generalizations of risk factors associated with cancer, there are individuals who are more or less susceptible to cancer. For instance, some individuals can smoke their entire life and yet do not develop lung cancer. On the other hand, some nonsmokers do develop lung cancer on exposure to “second hand” tobacco smoke. This is due to small mutations that occurs in high frequency at different population or racial/ethnic group levels known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These small differences in the DNA can affect an individual’s metabolism positively, such as enhancing removal of toxins in the body that can damage DNA, or negatively, exacerbating the individuals’ inability to accomplish such a task. These genetic variants can also influence an individual’s response to medical intervention. Hereditary genetic predisposition has been associated with high risk of cancer in several individuals in a particular family. For instance, 1 in 40 Ashkenazi Jewish women with breast cancer has mutation in a gene called BRCA1. Thankfully, genetic predisposition to cancer accounts for less than 10% of all causes of cancer. Overall, high cancer incidence is the result of gene-environmental factors.

Cancer etiology is due to several factors both inside the body and in the environment. Exposure to a wide variety of natural and man-made substances in the environment accounts for at least two-thirds of all the cancer cases. Environmental factors include lifestyle choices such as tobacco smoke, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet, lack of exercise, excessive sunlight exposure, and sexual behavior, as well as increased exposure to certain viruses. Other factors include exposure to certain drugs, hormones, radiation, viruses, bacteria, and environmental chemicals that may be present in the air, water, on workplace. Most chemicals are not carcinogenic, but a wide variety of chemicals and chemical classes can cause cancer in animals and humans. As a result, cancer is a complex genetic disease that invariably requires multiple genetic lesions to breach these safeguards. Even in individuals with inherited mutations in critical protective genes such as tumor suppressors, cancer usually does not develop for many years or decades. Yet, the inexorable accumulation of mutations during a lifetime ensures that some form of malignant disease will eventually develop in many if not most humans.

Epidemiology, which is the study of disease in the population, has been instrumental in identifying several risk factors for different cancers. These studies either compare the risk of certain cancers in people with and without certain characteristics (cohort studies) or compare the histories of people with and without cancer (case control studies) to provide information on a wide range of possible risk factors. In addition, laboratory experiments using animal and human cells in culture or in animal models, helped confirm some of these risk factors. The environment, reproductive life, diet, and smoke are four important risk factors associated with cancer. Exposure to carcinogens, hormonal modifications influenced by childbirth and birth control, and exposure to viruses underlie these lifestyle factors. These factors can exert pressure on different groups of cells that can subvert normal regulatory processes. These lifestyle factors in principle can be altered to prevent many cancers.

The first recognized and recorded instance of an environmental cancer due to environmental influence was reported in 1775 by an English physician who concluded that the high incidence of nasal and scrotum cancer in chimney sweeps was due to chronic exposure to soot. Not only where a person works but also where a person relaxes can contribute to the risk of developing cancer. For instance, unprotected exposure to the sun exposes the skin to UV radiation which can directly alter DNA to cause mutations. Exposure to asbestos is linked primarily to lung cancer, whereas exposure to benzidine, a chemical found in certain dyes, is associated with bladder cancer, and smoking is linked to cancers of the lung, bladder, mouth, colon, kidney, throat, esophagus, lip, stomach, cervix, liver, and pancreas.

In addition, the importance of the environment can be seen in the difference in cancer rates throughout the world and change in cancer rates when groups of people migrate from one country to another. For example, when Asians, who have low rates of prostate and breast cancer and high rates of stomach cancer in their native countries, immigrate to the US, their prostate and breast cancer rates rise over time until they are nearly equal to or even greater than the higher levels of these cancers in the US. Likewise, their rates of stomach cancer fall, becoming nearly equal to the lower US rates. Lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise and obesity are thought to play a major role in the trends for breast and prostate cancer, and infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is an important risk factor for stomach cancer. 

Another early observation was that nuns are more likely to develop breast cancer than other women. It is now known that having children reduces breast cancer risk for women. The age of a woman at the time of giving birth for the first time and the age of a woman at the initiation and termination of her menstrual cycles also influence certain cancer risks. Hormonal contraception and fertility treatments can also affect cancer risk because they alter a woman’s ovulation schedule. Sexual promiscuity can also contribute to increased risk of cancer- sexually transmitted human papillomavirueses can be found in all cervical cancers worldwide. It is not surprising therefore that nuns have a low incidence of cervical cancer whereas prostitutes have the highest incidence of cervical cancer.

The incidence of a specific cancer varies greatly between different populations in different geographical locations, with diet being one of the most influential factors. For instance, stomach cancer is the predominant cancer in the Chinese population and a minor cancer in the population of the USA. Interestingly, the risk of stomach cancer in Chinese people who have migrated to the USA decreases only if they adopt the American diet, but not if they retain an Eastern diet. Asian men have the lowest incidence of prostate cancer if they remain in Asia. However, the incidence of prostate cancer is significantly higher in 2^nd and 3^rd Asian migrants in the USA as a consequence of adopting the western diet. The Mediterranean diet, which is rich in fresh fruit, vegetables, and red wine has been promoted to be beneficial in reducing cancer risk. Given the mounting evidence linking fruit and vegetable consumption to reduction in cancer risk (as well as reduction in obesity and other health problems), every effort to inspire a high degree of awareness, such as designing memorable slogans such as the “5-A-Day” campaign, must be at the top of every nation’s health agenda.

The clearest example of lifestyle factors underlying a specific cancer is the discovery that smoking causes lung cancer (it is also implicated in pancreas, bladder, kidney, mouth, stomach, and liver cancer). Smoking accounts for 30 percent of all cancer deaths. At least 81 carcinogens have been identified in cigarette smoke. Smoking became particularly fashionable in Europe and the USA during the 1^st and 2^nd world wars and resulted in an epidemic of lung carcinoma. After vast public education campaigns and a subsequent reduction of smoking, lung cancer rates have fallen dramatically. This is a clear demonstration that some future cancer deaths can be avoided by changes in lifestyle factors. 

One’s immune system and stress level as well as spiritual wellness can also affect a person’s susceptibility to cancer. The importance of the immune system for health is illustrated by the frequent observation that individuals with defective immune response to chronic infection are susceptible to serious, often life-threatening infections as evidenced by the emergence of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the 1980s. Typically, the immune system recognizes these abnormal cells and kills them before they produce a tumor. Defects in the development and functions of the immune system results in increased susceptibility to infections, reactivation of latent infections (such as cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, and tuberculosis) in which the normal immune response keeps the infection in check but does not eradicate it, and increased incidence of certain cancers. Dietary bioactive food components that interact with the immune response have considerable potential to reduce the risk of cancer.

In conclusion, the recent declines in cancer incidence and mortality rates are mainly due to improved preventive measures. The decline in stomach cancer is attributed to refrigeration, and a decline in lung cancer is attributed to decrease in smoking as the public becomes increasingly knowledgeable about the harmful effects of smoke. Furthermore, declines in colorectal, cervical, prostate, and breast cancer mortality reflect the effect of improved screening, leading to early detection and diagnosis. An estimated one third to one half of cancers are preventable. At least one-third of cases of cancer are caused by environmental factors. Many of these cancers are linked to lifestyle factors that can be modified such as cigarette smoke, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet, low physical activity, and being overweight or obese.

A third of cancer deaths can be prevented by eliminating tobacco smoke. After tobacco, overweight or obesity appears to be the next most important preventable cause of cancer. In addition to lifestyle choices, precautions can be taken in the home and workplace to reduce exposure to other harmful exposures. In the past 25 years enormous progress has been made in defining the molecular events that take place as a normal cell becomes malignant and finding the critical genes thought to be involved in cancer.  These scientific advances clearly indicate that what we put in our mouths and what we do every day impact our risk of cancer. Thus, knowledge about cancer prevention measures that address modifiable risk factors such as tobacco smoke, alcohol consumption, diet, occupational exposure, infection and physical activity can help ease cancer burden. 

(Read more: Cancer Causes and Controversies- Understanding Risk Reduction and Prevention; Praeger, 2011).

Health disparities are well documented in various parts of the world. In European countries such as Britain, where the population is fairly homogenous (i.e., mostly European whites), health disparity has been understood as differences in health outcomes between various socio-economic groups; where the upper-class educated and wealthy professionals are healthy and live longer compared to the lower-class and uneducated poor population. In such settings, disparities between different racial and ethnic groups, such as between the British whites and west African black immigrants has generally received less attention. On the other, the United States health disparities studies have typically been focused on racial and ethnic differences in disease incidence and mortality rates among different racial and ethnic groups of the US population. Unfortunately, in many other parts of the world particularly in developing nations, health disparities studies have received very little attention.

To address health disparities across populations, it is critical to understand what constitutes a disparity. Health inequities are systematic differences in the health status of different population groups. According to Dr. Margaret Whitehead, health disparities is the “differences in health outcomes that are not only unnecessary and avoidable but, in addition, are considered unfair and unjust”. Health disparities are far reaching and can affect a wide range of diverse populations. Race or ethnicity, sex, sexual identity, age, disability, socioeconomic status, and geographic location all contribute to an individual’s ability to achieve good health. Michael Marmot has argued that: ‘Inequalities in health between and within countries are avoidable; and that there is no biological reason why life expectancy should be 48 years longer in Japan than in Sierra Leone or 20 years shorter in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People than in other Australians.

Evidence shows that social factors including education, employment status, income level, gender and racial and ethnicity have a marked influence on a person’s health. In all countries, whether low-income or high-income, there are wide disparities in the health status of different social groups. The lower an individual’s socio-economic status, the higher their risk of poor health.

Studies have shown that people over the age of 60 years old made up over 90 percent of COVID-19 death in the European union. People with disadvantaged backgrounds in Latin America and the Caribbean are more than 43 percent likely to have disability. Two out of three children under the age of 5 who suffer from stunted growth are from Africa and Southeast Asia. Girls aged 15-19 years old in sub-Saharan Africa contract HIV at a rate 3 times higher than boys of the same age. African American babies are 2 times more likely to die as babies compared to other US races and ethnicities. People of low-income countries live 18.1 years fewer than those in high income countries. Even in high income countries such as western Europe and the US, people of African descent are disproportionately affected by high incidence and mortality rates of chronic diseases includingcardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and cerebrovascular disease and hypertension.

Most prominent among the causes of health disparities are social determinants and environmental risk factors, access to healthcare, utilization, and quality of health status or health outcomes. More recent findings from scientific studies that focused on the role of genetics in health disparities has provided additional insight into the complex interactions of gene–environment and social determinants in defining health outcomes. Complex gene–gene and gene–environment interactions may explain differences in disease risk or outcomes among various racial/ethnic groups and the extent to which environmental exposures can affect gene expression to modify disease risk that are differentially distributed across populations.

African Americans and other minorities or low-income groups who live in segregated neighborhoods, such as slums or the poorest parts of urban areas, are disproportionately affected by air pollution and other environmental stresses. Even when social class and other confounding factors are eliminated, belonging to a minority race/ethnicity group alone has been found to be associated with increased risk to toxic exposure as was recently documented for lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan in the US.

There is extensive evidence for the role of social determinants in the origin of premature and low birth-weight infants, and such an early life course is linked to future health outcomes in the African American population, for instance, childhood obesity is directly linked to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. The accumulating evidence suggests an association of early life exposure, indeed intrauterine conditions such as diet and maternal stress during pregnancy, and susceptibility to diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and stroke, which disproportionally affect the African American population. Psychological stress caused by perceived racism has adverse health outcomes, including disproportionally high incidence of depression and high blood pressure in African American and other minority groups.

The roles of diet, physical activity, tobacco use, and alcohol consumption are widely recognized as determinants for poor health outcomes. However, some of the choices are themselves determined by availability such that heavy marketing of unhealthy foods, alcohol, and cigarettes, especially targeting children, is commonplace in low-income neighborhoods along with limited access to stores selling healthy foods. Many of the behavioral factors are complicated by psychological and emotional issues, such as depression.

The prevailing observation points to intervention at different angles to bridge health disparities. For instance, behavioral intervention is one option to reduce health disparities. Reports indicate that behavioral interventions for smoking, physical inactivity, poor diet, and alcohol abuse showed an overall favorable cost effectiveness for multiple behavioral interventions. Other evidence indicates that the greatest return on investment will come from interventions that simultaneously target multiple risk behaviors in various populations. A landmark behavioral intervention study named the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) was established with the overarching objective to reduce diabetes’ risk. The goals set out in the DPP was the total reduction of body weight by 7% and a minimum of 150 min of physical activity per week (Diabetes Prevention Program). The study used dietary modification focused on reducing total fat and a minimum of 150 min’ walk (similar to brisk walk) and equivalent to 700 K Cal/week of total calorie expenditure, with participants instructed to self-monitor fat and calories. Also, interventions targeted at high-risk groups may achieve efficiency through the greater available risk to be reduced. For instance, interventions to diet change were found to be especially cost effective when applied to groups with 3–4 combined risk factors, such as smoking, hypertension, and elevated LDL cholesterol.

Culture denotes the ways of life that are normally transmitted from one generation to another, and these are associated with various ethnic and racial groups. The culture of African or US Hispanics and other low–socioeconomic (SES) minority populations may influence health behaviors and practices and interactions with the health-care system. Minority populations are likely to seek alternative approaches to the Westernized health-care system for disease treatment. Some of these alternative treatments, including the use of chamomile tea to induce sleep and relaxation, are effective, while other alternative treatments, such as breaking an egg on the stomach to treat susto (a belief about a form of spiritually induced depression in the Hispanic community) has no effect, and yet other alternative treatments, such as the use of lead-based remedies for treating empacho (obstruction of the stomach; indigestion, diarrhea, constipation) among populations of Mexican origins, can be dangerous. Latino populations may use various diets and herbal treatment to treat diseases, instead of taken Western medicines. Conversely, the cultural assumptions on which the health/care systems, policies, and interventions are based may impact health behaviors and outcomes for minority and low-SES populations. Health disparities can be alleviated in part by creating and maintaining a culturally competent health-care system

Stress and psychological distress caused by perceived racial discrimination or other social factors may elicit negative emotional responses. These, in turn, can trigger adverse biological responses and negative health behaviors, and eventually lead to adverse health outcomes. The concept of “allostatic load” is used to demonstrate how environmental stresses including psychosocial ones can culminate in health disparities.

In order to effectively reduce and/or eliminate health disparities, scientifically based remedies have to be implemented in broad/based behavioral interventions that are focused on changing conditions at the community, state, and governmental levels, in addition to the individual level. Infrastructure, such as  social networks involving community-health representatives, peer-outreach workers, community-health aides, and peer educators and their interactions with health-care professionals needs to be established.

Some reports suggests that social determinants are the root causes of health disparities, noting that factors such as economic hardship, psychosocial stress, and racial discrimination are causes of bad health. These social determinants derive from the environments and communities in which people are born, live, grow, work, and age. These circumstances are further shaped by the distribution of wealth, power, and resources at the global, national, and local levels, which can themselves be influenced by government policy.

We face a mammoth challenge in health disparities, and there is no single element or factor to explain all the incidence and mortality rates associated with disparities. Interventions to reduce or eliminate health disparities must be approached from multiple angles. While some believed that universal care would resolve disparities, this model has not worked in some countries, such as the United Kingdom, because health care alone does not solve problems, such as residential segregation and employment opportunities which are important determinants for heath. Addressing health disparities requires concerted efforts at the individual, family, community, local, and state levels, as well as government policies and international organization including the World Health Organization, the World Bank and Global Commission on the Social Determinants of Health with strategic interventions directed towards communities or populations at great risk.

Poverty is clearly a major determinant of health differentials everywhere. Poor countries have worse health indicators than rich ones and the poor within a country have worse indicators than the rich. That health is an important condition for poverty reduction and economic development of nations was one of the conclusions of the report of the 2001 WHO Commission on ‘Macroeconomics and Health: Investing in Health for Economic Development’. The reduction of social inequalities in health, and thus meeting human needs, is an issue of social justice.

(Read more: Health Outcomes in a Foreign Land- A Role for Epigenomic and Environmental Interaction; Springer 2017).

The current global obesity epidemic suggests there is something fundamentally wrong with either our genes, environment, or lifestyle. While there is evidence for a role of genetics in obesity, our environment has significantly changed in the last 10,000 years.

Our ancestors were mostly hunters and gatherers and barely had enough food to eat. We have transformed how we eat and utilize caloric energy with the beginning of agriculture. We have shifted from hunters and gatherers to growing food ourselves on an industrial scale. For the first time in human history, we can produce high energy caloric dense foods more than we know what to do with. It is not just excess of calories, but we are also changing the nature of foods towards ultra-processed foods and cheap. These foods are low in fiber, full of fat, and padded with artificial additives, sugars, and salt and the Western world is leading in this current food industry. It is no coincidence that obesity epidemic is spreading around the globe because wherever modern western lifestyles show up, obesity is likely to follow. Until we can solve the underlying causes of obesity we will never get ahead of diabetes, hypertension, kidney failure, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.

Nowadays, only a few scattered tribes of hunter-gatherers remain on the planet. The Hadza tribe is considered one of the last hunter-gatherer population in the world. The diets of the Hadza hunter-gatherer and other rural communities in developing countries tend to be less energy dense and richer in fiber and micronutrients than modern diets. Consequently, the hunter-gatherer people are trim, healthy, strong, and young looking. Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are rare in the Hadza hunter-gatherer population and the incidence of obesity in this population is exceptionally low (less than 5 percent) compared to the average global population (approximately 40 percent).

The Hadza people are physically active because they walk and run several miles in search for food and this forces their bodies to utilize stored body fat as energy and therefore did not suffer from many of these excess-calorie related chronic diseases. Their physical activity level is high more than 100 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity compared to the sedentary life of most western cultures.

These observations has made some health gurus suggest that to reverse the current trend of chronic diseases, we should stick to the foods of our ancestors (the Paleo-diet). Noting that such dietary pattern can help avoid the disease associated with modern civilization such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. While this suggestion is sound, the question is which paleo-diet to follow as the paleolithic diet of our ancestors depended very much on their geographical locations. There is no single “best diet” for all people because we are all different. We come from different geographic locations and have adopted different dietary patterns that are influenced by many factors including hormonal signals, gut microbiome, circadian rhythm, sleep, and individual genetic traits.

In other words, humans can adapt to many different environmental conditions and many different foods to create healthy diets for good health. Unfortunately, modern western diet does not appear to be one of them. However, the solution is not to go back to the stone age but rather learn from evolutionary history and get the best of both worlds.

Evidence in support of healthy diet for good health and longevity comes from lifestyle patterns in certain parts of the world known as “Blue Zones”. The Blue Zones of the world are Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya Peninsula (Costa Rica), and the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda (California). These countries are characterized by diet rich in organic complex carbohydrates, plant-derived foods (mostly fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds and whole grain cereals) low intake of meat (red meat) and plenty of exercise. Countries such as Greece, Southern Italy and Spain and places that grow olives in the Mediterranean are characterized by the so-called Mediterranean diet that is consistently associated with good health. The Mediterranean diets is similar to that of Blue Zones; generous amounts of olive oil (as main culinary fat) and high consumption of plant-derived foods (fruits, vegetables, legumes nuts and seeds, and whole grain cereals). The answer to maintaining good health and avoiding obesity is simple and unchanging. Eat more fruits and vegetables, while cutting out (or at least cutting down on) processed convenience foods and sweets.

The human body is designed to move, such as hunter-gatherers chasing prey for long distances across the plain. The phrase “sitting is the new smoke” underscores the dangers of sedentary lifestyle. Sedentary lifestyle is associated with many chronic diseases that is predominantly linked to tobacco smoke. According to a Time’s magazine article published on January 18, 2017, “Sitting too much ages you by 8 years”. Sedentary lifestyle contributes to 300,000 preventable deaths each year in the USA alone.  Whereas regular physical activity is shown to be protective against many chronic diseases.

Therefore, understanding the dynamic nature of the human body and the interrelated and synergistic roles of diet and physical activity in controlling body weight can lead to implementing more effective weight management and avoidance of chronic diseases.

The dietary patterns of different populations provide insights into how indigenous populations gets into trouble when they abandon their traditional diets and active lifestyles for the Western equivalent.

Populations such as Eskimos and New Papua Guinea natives who live off the land have low incidence of cancer. Other countries such as Japan and Thailand whose diet is rich in complex carbohydrates and fruits and vegetables have lower cancer incidence and mortality rates compared to other Western countries whose diet is rich in red and processed meat, refined grains, sugar sweetened beverages, refined carbohydrates, and saturated fats.

Diabetes was virtually unknown in the Mayan population of Central American whose main staple diet was maize supplemented with beans, squash and chile peppers. However, beginning in the 1950s there was a shift from traditional culture to working in industry and this coincided with a switched from traditional diet to a Western diet rich of processed foods and high sugar content. Consequently, the rates of diabetes skyrocketed.

Similarly, heart disease was virtually unknown in Siberian nomads and the Evenk reindeer herders and the Yakut whose diet was rich in red meat. However, with urbanization and consumption of market meats containing chemical preservations instead of fresh meat from hunting and gathering, the incidence of heart disease has significantly increased. Today about half the Yakut living in villages are overweight, and almost a third have hypertension.  

These are but just a few examples of how a shift from traditional plant-based diet of complex carbohydrates rich in dietary fibers, fresh fruits and vegetables, and fresh meat or wild-caught fish to our modern-day highly processed diets rich in sugars, processed meat, saturated fats, high energy dense nutrients spells disaster for our health as demonstrated by increased risk to chronic diseases.

The good news is that these chronic diseases can be reversed by the adaption of healthy diet and physical exercise. One scientific study observed that when obese Australian Aborigines temporary reversed their Westernized lifestyle (by living as hunter-gatherers in their traditional country for 7 weeks), they essentially reverse their T2D risk. The evidence is clear that when contemporary hunter-gatherer societies adopt the “Western” way of life, obesity, diabetes, and atherosclerosis became a common place. Thus, if we can avoid modern westernized diet, we can reduce our risk to cancer.  

Another study from Marshall Island population demonstrated that plant-based diet and vegan diet can reverse diabetes. Diabetes was unheard of in Marshall Island about 80 years ago when the people lived off foods from the land. However, in recent years and as the Islanders relied on imported and refined foods laden with salt, sugar, and fat, this population has seen one of the highest incidences of T2D in the world. In this study, 169 participants were put on plant-based diets and/or moderate exercise. After 3 months intensive diet (low-fat vegan diet), markers for cardiovascular diseases and T2D were improved, such as fasting sugar levels was reduced, Insulin resistance was reduced, and CRP level was reduced. As much as lifestyle and dietary factors can increase the risk of T2D, this finding suggests benefits of plant-based diet in reversing chronic disease.

Various dietary patterns that have emerged over the years with differing benefits and harms. Some are ancient dietary methods that have gained renewed popularity in our modern world including fasting, the ketogenic diet, plant-based diet, and the calorie restriction diet. Fasting is a holistic (spiritual, psychological, and physical) challenge to the human body with tremendous benefits to human health. The principle of Fasting relies on an organism’s innate adaptive mechanisms and the ability to switch from readily available energy source (glucose) to stored energy (fat) during period of starvation and famine. A plethora of health benefits has been attributed to fasting. Favorable effects on several health-related outcomes including reduced inflammation, blood pressure, blood lipids, insulin sensitivity and biomarkers of oxidative stress. Scientific reports indicates that a wide range of chronic disorders including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and neurodegenerative brain diseases can be reversed by fasting.

The Ketogenic diet has gained enough momentum to become a trend particularly among young Hollywood actors and Silicon Valley tech geeks. Many people reportedly have dropped pounds and feel healthier and more fit, and other positive effects such as reversing T2D, improved HDL “good” cholesterol levels and controlling blood sugar levels, have been noted albeit with short term benefits. Calorie restriction diet by feeding 30% less calories than normal diet is associated with learner, healthy and younger looking, had less age-related diseases as well as had lower incidence of chronic diseases (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer) compared to individuals who feed at will.

Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) characterized by high intake of fruits, vegetables, and a low-fat dairy pattern is hugely successful in reversing and preventing hypertension. The DASH diet is flexible but emphasizes on reduction of salt intake, increased potassium intake, reduced alcohol intake.  

The overwhelming evidence support plant-based diet is the best for good health and prevention of chronic diseases. Some of the benefits of plant-based diet compared to meat diet is that plant based diets have the highest fiber foods, high phytochemicals, high antioxidants, low in fat, saturated fats, cholesterol free, non heme iron, no hormones/antibodies, no trimethylamine N-oxide, low chemical contaminants and no endotoxins. Plant-based diet is associated with good health and longevity.

We can profoundly change our health by what we eat. More importantly, we must pay attention to eating a healthy balanced diet of organic whole grains (5-6 servings); vegetables (4 servings), fruits (2 servings); vitamins, minerals, natural sugars); dairy products; meat; beans; polyunsaturated fats (rich in omega 3 fatty acids). Yet, many of the processed foods that we eat have been adulterated to improve palatability, texture, and shelf life. Organic food is more nutrient dense than these conventional foods and if you think that you cannot afford organic foods, think about the cost of medicine. We are in control of what we buy, and we must begin to choose healthy foods. Regardless of dietary preference, the overwhelming evidence support plant-based diet or Mediterranean-type of diet as best for good health.  If we can avoid modern westernized diet, we can reduce our risk to hundreds of chronic diseases.  

(Read more: Check The FATS! – Eliminate Chronic Diseases; Under review by Elite Publishers 2021).