Using Food As Medicine

At a global level, we are currently facing a pressing issue that demands our attention: the impact of dietary risks on public health. This concern was underscored in a significant publication from last year, supported by The Gates Foundation and published in the prestigious journal, Lancet. According to a study on the global burden of disease, it was revealed that a staggering 11 million deaths are linked to dietary risk factors, particularly stemming from the insufficient intake of essential food groups such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and whole grains.

This alarming statistic highlights a clear and urgent challenge in our nutrition landscape. However, it also presents a unique opportunity to explore innovative solutions that could mitigate this health crisis. To delve deeper into how we can reconcile this nutritional dilemma with technological advancements, I would like to discuss the role of biotechnology, life sciences, and pharmaceutical development in transforming our understanding of food as a vehicle for health improvement and disease prevention. This exploration will be framed within the context of the remarkable progress we have made in drug development over the past three decades.

For over 30 years, I have had the privilege of leading a nonprofit organization called the Androgenesis Foundation, where we have engaged in the successful development of numerous FDA-approved drugs and medical devices. Over the last 25 years alone, the pharmaceutical industry has seen the approval of more than 800 new drugs, prompting us to reflect on the scientific knowledge and insights we have acquired during this period that made such progress possible. One of the most crucial advancements has been in the field of genomic medicine, which has significantly expanded our understanding of the human genome and catalyzed the development of gene therapy.

This journey has unfolded over approximately 30 years, culminating in the historic achievement of sequencing the human genome. Remarkably, this feat was accomplished within just 13 years after we began studying the genome. Throughout this transformative journey, we have gleaned a plethora of information, although many aspects remain enigmatic. Among the significant discoveries is the identification of the human kinome, a comprehensive assembly of the enzymes that our cells utilize to produce proteins. This kinome represents an extensive network of chemical reactions and pathways that resemble an evolutionary tree. We have also deciphered various cellular pathways that extend from the external environment of the cell down to the nucleus, which functions as the command center of cellular activities.

Each node or colored shape within these pathways represents a potentially druggable target. For those innovating within the biotech industry, selecting one of these targets for drug development can be a pivotal step. It is worth noting that a substantial portion of the 800 drugs developed thus far targets one or more of these intricate pathways. What is particularly intriguing is that the same druggable targets that inform us about how our bodies respond to pharmaceutical treatments also interact with the foods we consume. Our understanding of biotechnology has illuminated the ways in which dietary components engage with these biological pathways. Moreover, we have conducted in-depth investigations into various foods, seeking to identify the chemical structures that nature has integrated into our food supply.

These compounds, broadly referred to as bioactives, encompass a variety of naturally occurring chemicals that often give foods their color, flavor, and nutritional qualities. Many of these bioactives are evolved health defenses of the plants, serving functions such as attracting pollinators and deterring pests, which also contribute to human health when consumed. To elucidate the connection between food and pharmaceuticals, I would like to share a particular experiment I conducted that compared the effects of various foods against pharmaceutical agents. In this study, we utilized a sophisticated assay system designed to evaluate the inhibitory effects of drugs, including chemotherapy agents, on the formation of detrimental blood vessels—known as angiogenesis—that can facilitate cancer growth. In this context, a shorter bar in our results indicated a more potent inhibitory effect on the growth of these blood vessels.

During my investigation, I made an intriguing observation: while it is feasible to ship a pharmaceutical compound overnight and obtain results within a few days, studying the effects of food components required a more intricate approach. This led us to break down food systems and analyze their components in a similar framework used for drug testing. The results were surprising: when we directly compared plant-based substances to pharmaceutical drugs within the same assay, many of the natural compounds exhibited similar or even superior potencies compared to conventional drugs. This finding underscores the potential of utilizing food not just as sustenance, but as a powerful tool in the fight against diseases, reinforcing the notion that what we eat can significantly influence our health outcomes.