Abstract
Nutrition science has often been focused on individual substances in food. But disease mechanisms are seldom so simple that they can be properly explained by the intake of single substances. For example, a relatively high intake of fat and of saturated fat was widely believed to be a major cause of cardiovascular disease. Similarly, it was widely claimed that supplements of various micronutrients (especially vitamin C, beta-carotene, calcium, and multivitamins) would be protective against particular diseases. However, more recent evidence has revealed that the relationship between diet and disease is best explained in terms of food rather than single nutrients. This concept is known as food synergy. Features of a healthy diet include a generous intake of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and nuts, but with a low intake of red meat and processed meat and salt. Such a diet is protective against cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cancer. Healthy eating plans are described, including MyPlate, the DASH Eating Plan, and the Mediterranean diet.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mozaffarian D. Dietary and policy priorities for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity: a comprehensive review. Circulation. 2016;133:187–225.
Mozaffarian D, Rosenberg UR. History of modern nutrition science-implications for current research, dietary guidelines, and food policy. BMJ. 2018;361:k2392.
Jacobs DR, Gross MD, Tapsell LC. Food synergy: an operational concept for understanding nutrition. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(suppl):1543S–8S.
Jacobs DR, Tapsell LC, Temple NJ. Food synergy: the key to balancing the nutrition research effort. Public Health Rev. 2012;33:507–29.
Aune D, Giovannucci E, Boffetta P, Fadnes LT, Keum N, et al. Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease total cancer and all-cause mortality-a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. Int J Epidemiol. 2017;46:1029–56.
Wang PY, Fang JC, Gao ZH, Zhang C, **e SY. Higher intake of fruits vegetables or their fiber reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis. J Diabetes Investig. 2016;7:56–69.
Schwingshackl L, Schwedhelm C, Hoffmann G, Boeing H. Potatoes and risk of chronic disease: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis. Eur J Nutr. 2019;58:2243–51.
Collin LJ, Judd S, Safford M, Vaccarino V, Welsh JA. Association of sugary beverage consumption with mortality risk in US adults: a secondary analysis of data from the REGARDS study. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2:e193121.
Auerbach BJ, Dibey S, Vallila-Buchman P, Kratz M, Krieger J. Review of 100% fruit juice and chronic health conditions: implications for sugar-sweetened beverage policy. Adv Nutr. 2018;9:78–85.
Sakaki JR, Melough MM, Li J, Tamimi RM, Chavarro JE, et al. Associations between 100% orange juice consumption and dietary, lifestyle and anthropometric characteristics in a cross-sectional study of U.S. children and adolescents. Nutrients. 2019;11:pii, E2687
Pan A, Malik VS, Hao T, Willett WC, Mozaffarian D, et al. Changes in water and beverage intake and long-term weight changes: results from three prospective cohort studies. Int J Obes. 2013;37:1378–85.
Imamura F, O’Connor L, Ye Z, Mursu J, Hayashino Y, et al. Consumption of sugar sweetened beverages artificially sweetened beverages and fruit juice and incidence of type 2 diabetes: systematic review meta-analysis and estimation of population attributable fraction. BMJ. 2015;351:h3576.
Zhang B, Zhao Q, Guo W, Bao W, Wang X. Association of whole grain intake with all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis from prospective cohort studies. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2018;72:57–65.
Wolk A. Potential health hazards of eating red meat. J Intern Med. 2017;281:106–22.
Liu X, Guasch-Ferré M, Drouin-Chartier JP, Tobias DK, Bhupathiraju SN, Rexrode KM, et al. Changes in nut consumption and subsequent cardiovascular disease risk among us men and women: 3 large prospective cohort studies. J Am Heart Assoc. 2020;9:e013877.
Estruch R, Ros E, Salas-Salvadó J, Covas MI, Corella D, Arós F, et al. PREDIMED study investigators. Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts. N Engl J Med. 2018;378:e34.
Ding M, Li J, Qi L, Ellervik C, Zhang X, Manson JE, et al. Associations of dairy intake with risk of mortality in women and men: three prospective cohort studies. BMJ. 2019;367:l6204.
Marangoni F, Pellegrino L, Verduci E, Ghiselli A, Bernabei R, Calvani R, et al. Cow’s milk consumption and health: a health professional’s guide. J Am Coll Nutr. 2019;38:197–208.
Clark MA, Springmann M, Hill J, Tilman D. Multiple health and environmental impacts of foods. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116:23357–62.
Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, Springmann M, Lang T, Vermeulen S, et al. Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-lancet commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet. 2019;393:447–92.
USDA ChooseMyPlate. https://www.choosemyplate.gov/
Temple NJ, Workman C. Fruits, vegetables, and food guides: design challenges. J Comm Med Public Health Care. 2020;7:064.
The DASH Diet. www.dashdiet.org.
Suggested Further Readings
Jacobs DR, Tapsell LC, Temple NJ. Food synergy: the key to balancing the nutrition research effort. Public Health Rev. 2012;33:507–29.
Mozaffarian D. Dietary and policy priorities for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity: a comprehensive review. Circulation. 2016;133:187–225.
Mozaffarian D, Rosenberg UR. History of modern nutrition science-implications for current research, dietary guidelines, and food policy. BMJ. 2018;361:k2392.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Temple, N.J. (2022). New Concepts in Nutritional Science: Food Not Nutrients. In: Wilson, T., Temple, N.J., Bray, G.A. (eds) Nutrition Guide for Physicians and Related Healthcare Professions. Nutrition and Health. Humana, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82515-7_40
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82515-7_40
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-82514-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-82515-7
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)