Food, Drugs and Poison.

NH Episode 09

There is a current trend of new medications or therapy for treatments in the medical sector, and this is a combined synergistic effects of drugs, therapy and nutrition. This is further fortified in the pharmaceuticals by some medications called Nutraceuticals. Over the years there has been a lot of debates on especially the difference between foods and drugs. This topic is a very controversial one to talk about and as such a lot of health professionals actually stay indifferent to it. This is because there is a thin line between food, drugs and sometimes poison. They all have overlapping roles to play in maintaining a sound and normal health. Medical practitioners understand the boundaries and limitations of each of them, and how proper applications could help in treatment of diseases and maintenance of one’s health. Some drugs, foods and poisons have clear cut differences, whiles some of them do not, we’ll need more than one post to elaborate more on it.

We are starting from the first and most important one. What is food?

“Food is any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, and promote growth”. Food is the basis for us to even be alive in the first place, and food also plays an important role in our health status. As a matter of fact, when there is a deficiency over-abundance in some class of food or some nutrients, it can lead to serious ailments or diseases such as marasmus, obesity, high blood pressure, Goiter, poor vision etc. However, the remedy to this is to simply to balance the intake of the given nutrient or food in most cases. The interesting part is that a very good number of major diseases are linked either directly or indirectly to nutrient/food intake which maybe in absence or in excess. Same way some foods also serve as poisons, when taken in a wrong amount or condition. For example excess intake of bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) can cause damage to the liver, Senna leaves which are used for cooking soups can end up being a laxative, or excess salt leading to dehydration or rise in blood pressure. The list endless when it comes to the poisonous aspects of foods and the kind of ailments they can cause. From as non-alarming as mild allergies, to as severe as even sudden death.

When we look up the definition of a drug, many definitions use the term “any chemical substance” while some says it’s a “therapeutic agent” that is used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or relive symptoms of a disease or abnormal condition. This explanation is very true, because majority but not all drugs are used to treat abnormal conditions. Some are used for preventive treatment or simple health management practice without necessarily a risk of a disease. Also majority drugs will either create a synergistic effect with some foods, or create a catastrophic effect with some foods, or be rendered useless when ingested with some foods. Secondly, drugs ingested meets the criteria for our definition of food. However, drugs abusively ingested can lead to poisoning, even to the point of death. When drugs are under-dosed or over-dosed, they could directly become poisons which may cause acute or chronic problems in patients or individuals. In fact, what I will say differentiates most drugs from a poison is simply the dosage.

A poison is a substance capable of producing adverse effect on an individual under appropriate conditions. The most common appropriate conditions for poisoning is dosage, and it’s’ mostly overdose. Generally there are chemicals, compounds and medications which we classify as poisons which is very true and obvious. We often forget that foods are one leading cause of poisoning which occurs on a regular. They are even harder to manage because these poisons may only affect selected individuals. In the case of allergies as earlier mentioned, some allergies my be as mild as maybe acne or slight skin reactions, some may be as moderate as diarrhea or vomiting, while some may be as severe heart attacks, shocks, or even death. The poisons acquired from foods acts in different capacities and some of them are tied to genetics. These effects could be Acute or Chronic.

In conclusion, we can clearly see there very close similarity between foods, drugs and poisons and how they play similar roles in our daily health. Most natural remedies either help to synergise the effectiveness of some medications, or they fill up places where they were lacking in the first place, or they help neutralize a complication in the body's metabolism and in its entirety produces a therapeutic effect similar to the use of medication. Needless to say, we can't overemphasize that you consult with a medical professional when you feel ill. However, never forget the place of your Nutrition, Dietitian, and Nutritionists. Because food is the sure way to sustains life.