Food synergy: the key to a healthy diet

Abstract

Food synergy is the concept that the non-random mixture of food constituents operates in concert for the life of the organism eaten and presumably for the life of the eater. Isolated nutrients have been extensively studied in well-designed, long-term, large randomised clinical trials, typically with null and sometimes with harmful effects. Therefore, although nutrient deficiency is a known phenomenon, serious for the sufferer, and curable by taking the isolated nutrient, the effect of isolated nutrients or other chemicals derived from food on chronic disease, when that chemical is not deficient, may not have the same beneficial effect. It appears that the focus on nutrients rather than foods is in many ways counterproductive. This observation is the basis for the argument that nutrition research should focus more strongly on foods and on dietary patterns. Unlike many dietary phenomena in nutritional epidemiology, diet pattern appears to be highly correlated over time within person. A consistent and robust conclusion is that certain types of beneficial diet patterns, notably described with words such as 'Mediterranean' and 'prudent', or adverse patterns, often described by the word 'Western', predict chronic disease. Food is much more complex than drugs, but essentially uninvestigated as food or pattern. The concept of food synergy leads to new thinking in nutrition science and can help to forge rational nutrition policy-making and to determine future nutrition research strategies.

‘The Quranic Garden’: Consumption of Fruits, Vegetables, and Whole Grains from an Islamic Perspective

“…Evidence regarding the dietary potential found in dates (Phoenix dactylifera), grapes (Vitis vinifera), olives and olive oil (Olea europaea), pomegranates (Punica granatum), and whole grains have been well established in the literature (Al-Muammar & Khan, 2012;Cho, Qi, Fahey Jr, & Klurfeld, 2013;Chuang & McIntosh, 2011;Mallhi et al, 2014;Pérez-Martínez, García-Ríos, Delgado-Lista, Pérez-Jiménez, & López-Miranda, 2011). Moreover, the positive and synergistic effects of Mediterranean-style dietary patterns composed of both plant-based dietary fiber and monounsaturated fatty acids, primarily from olive oil, has been suggested in previous evidence (De Barros et al, 2014;Jacobs & Tapsell, 2013;Martínez-González & Gea, 2012). The MD has been previously proposed as an environmentally-friendly diet model defined by its sustainability and biodiversity (Burlingame & Dernini, 2011;Sáez-Almendros, Obrador, Bach-Faig, & Serra-Majem, 2013;Serra-Majem, Bach-Faig, Miranda, & Clapes-Badrinas, 2011).…”

Dietary guidelines to nourish humanity and the planet in the twenty-first century. A blueprint from Brazil

“…Also, foods are normally prepared, combined and consumed with other foods as dishes and meals and the nutrients and other bioactive compounds they contain all interact (3) . This explains why nutrients and other bioactive compounds separated from their food matrix, in the form of supplements or in 'fortified' processed food products, usually do not mimic their effects when consumed as a natural or intrinsic part of foods and of dishes and meals made with these foods (7)(8)(9)(10) .…”

The Mediterranean-Style Diet: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

“…Although different regions of the Mediterranean basin consist of their own unique foods and cuisines, these variants represent a single entity that share a multitude of dietary similarities and common denominators [5,7,8] Today, the positive and synergistic effects of Mediterranean-style dietary patterns composed of both plant-based dietary fiber and monounsaturated fatty acids, primarily from olive oil, have been suggested in previous evidence [10][11][12]. Additionally, the MD has been previously proposed as an environmentally-addressing global public health nutrition priorities and complexities could expand our understanding of healthy eating to contemporary ways of thinking.…”