Dr. Mullick: Does Food We Eat Affect Our Health?

Yes, what we eat or drink or breathe affects our health. No one questions this fact, as we know that our vehicles now have expensive catalytic converters for exhaust gases. We know lot of health issues related to air we breathe in.

Likewise, water is getting more polluted, and many people are switching to bottled water.

Food is another area where research is showing that certain foods are bad for heart, digestive diseases, stroke and other ailments.

We wrote an exhaustive article in 2003 in Practical Gastro on the topic: "Nutrition in the Chemo Prevention of Gastrointestinal Cancer—Where Are We in the Millenium?"

Red meat has shown in American Cancer Society research to cause more colon cancer, as reported in Webmd.

I have found that a gluten-free diet helps some of my patients. There are other foods, such as milk, which also affects some. We know about peanuts allergy.

So food does affect digestive diseases. Food affects our life span. Nutrition is one key reason for obesity in America. We know obese people suffer from digestive disorders two times more than normal-weight people.

A lot of people complain about health costs in America compared to others. But they forget that these factors—air, water, food—affect our health. The Japanese live longer because they eat more fish. By the way, Amarin's recent studies have shown that VASCEPA—purified fish oil with 96 percent EPA and less than 4 percent DHA—lowers trigylicerides without raising LDL.

There is large population in America with elevated trigylcerides. A study done in 1999-2005 in Japan showed that purified fish oil reduces cardiac events when taken with statins. A similar study is under way in the USA. If you have high trigylcerides, you can enroll in that study free of cost to you.

I advise many of my patients to eat proper food-to reduce their digestive problems, but some seek a miracle medicine that allows them to eat junk food as much as they want. That, in the long run, is not the best solution.

Exercise is another issue that affects our health. I wrote a blog in 2009 in Get Your Rear in Gear while discussing colon cancer. I wrote another blog in answer to a patient on constipation in www.getyourrearingear.com

Another fact is that many people take over the counter medicines without realizing the harm they do. The harmful affects are written in fine print, but how many read them? Many stomach ulcers are caused by these over the counter medicines.

So please eat well. It's good for your health.