Welcome to this first issue of the PhytoMedicine newsletter. This is a place where we will investigate what is new in the world of nutrition in health and how that pertains to healthcare providers and the general patient population.
I’m Cheri Granillo, a Nurse Practitioner working at NC State University’s Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI). The faculty researchers at PHHI focus on how plants can positively affect the health of human systems. My role in NC State Extension is to bring that information to you. The language and recommendations in the world of nutrition seem to be ever-changing and the new research is exciting! I hope to show you that it can be easy to share important, life-changing nutrition recommendations from experts with your patients and community partners.
Before joining PHHI, I spent the first 14 years of my career in full-time patient care in New Mexico. I still work one day each week as a provider, figuratively and literally keeping my finger on the pulse of challenges in today’s healthcare environment. My role in Extension helps me assess, develop and share solutions to some of those challenges. One such effort is PhytoRx, a produce prescription program that we are developing and currently trialing in Iredell County. This program helps to translate the science of nutrition research into shareable/teachable information for patients. It is a way to “prescribe” plants in a specific way to help patients learn which fruits and vegetables may be more suited to their diagnoses and help connect patients with accessible produce. Subscribe to the newsletter for more information about how the program works and learn about available resources to initiate the program in your practice!
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Have you heard of Med Instead of Meds?
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It’s easy for patients to get overwhelmed as they make grocery selections, but it’s just as easy to commit to a few specific areas of evidence-based dietary change that have demonstrated improvements in chronic disease.
The Mediterranean Diet is one of the best studied nutritional approaches and easiest for lifestyle adaptation.1 A few tenets of the Mediterranean Diet are:
- Decrease or eliminate sweetened beverages,
- Swap some animal protein for disease-fighting plant proteins (like beans and lentils),
- Bump up the consumption of fruits and vegetables.
This is not a change to completely different flavors, but a way to reexamine how to construct a daily diet from healthy whole foods. For example, instead of ground beef style chili, swap half of the ground beef in your recipe to plant-protein-power-packed lentils and add some black beans for a dose of anthocyanins. The lentils will soak up the flavor of the chili and even have a similar texture to ground beef. They will also offer a boost of fiber, B vitamins, iron and magnesium.
Small, unnoticeable changes may encourage patients to look for other places where they might substitute some of their animal protein for plant protein, helping to decrease sodium, cholesterol, and saturated fat while increasing fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. These phytochemicals can fight inflammation and prevent or even treat diabetes!2 Phytochemicals like anthocyanins will act like DPP inhibitors in the body to reduce blood sugar levels.3 These chemicals can also make the body less insulin resistant.4
Explore the program Med Instead of Meds–the wordplay is Med(iterranean Diet) Instead of Med(icine)s. Learn more about how seven small shifts in diet can make a big difference in health. Rather than strict elimination, the strategy is to consider food on a health continuum where consumers should aim for inclusion of more healthy options and fewer less healthy options. This website is a great resource to share with patients. In many counties in North Carolina, the Cooperative Extension Service offers regular guided classes, supported by cooking demonstrations to introduce the dietary shifts in convenient and economically efficient ways. The support offered by the Extension agent along with the peer accountability is a great way to build strong, lasting habits.
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What is Precision Nutrition?
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You are what you eat, but who you are can also affect how your body uses what you eat. General recommendations, as we’ve been accustomed to, are made for populations of people, but the future of nutrition in medicine may look more like putting a puzzle together.
Research is showing that there can be significant differences in the way that compounds in food are processed by individuals. Nutrition is becoming personalized and that personalization is called precision nutrition.
The National Institutes of Health recently awarded a $19.2 million grant to a group of researchers based at the NC Research Campus in Kannapolis. The award will fund a Metabolomics and Clinical Assays Center. This research will utilize clinical samples, metabolomics and bioinformatics to build a reference database that will help predict how an individual may react to specific plant compounds based on internal and external factors.
PHHI research faculty, Colin Kay, PhD, brings expertise in dietary phytochemical assays to the project. His lab provides analytical resources for establishing links between dietary exposure and states of health and wellness.
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Anthocyanins are phytochemicals that form pigments present in dark red, blue, and purple fruits and vegetables.
They help to protect plants from oxidative stress in the environment. In some cases these anthocyanins can protect human cells in a similar way.
Learn more about the antioxidant abilities of this phytochemical or visit the Glossary to learn more PhytoMedicine lingo.
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We are excited to share more content with you throughout the year as we further develop PhytoRx and build medical fluency around nutrition, health and phytochemicals.
This first issue of the newsletter may have been shared with you through an email list; make sure that you don’t miss future issues by subscribing.
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Citations
1-Salas-Salvadó, J., Becerra-Tomás, N., García-Gavilán, J. F., Bulló, M., & Barrubés, L. (2018). Mediterranean Diet and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: What Do We Know?. Progress in cardiovascular diseases, 61(1), 62–67.
2-Kalt, W., Cassidy, A., Howard, L. R., Krikorian, R., Stull, A. J., Tremblay, F., & Zamora-Ros, R. (2020). Recent Research on the Health Benefits of Blueberries and Their Anthocyanins. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 11(2), 224–236.
3-Fan, J., Johnson, M. H., Lila, M. A.*, Yousef, G., & de Mejia, E. G. (2013). Berry and Citrus Phenolic Compounds Inhibit Dipeptidyl Peptidase IV: Implications in Diabetes Management. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2013, 479505.
*Mary Ann Lila is a faculty researcher at NC State University Plants for Human Health Institute.
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