Michael Pollan's dietary rules and Western diseases

Michael Pollan sets out some "rules" of diet ini his new book. I have not yet read his book (which I look forward to doing) - only his column. I enjoyed the distinction between "food" and "food products" which may be placed in a more extreme definition: food products have barcodes; food does not ! Try the "no barcodes diet" for a month and you may feel the difference.

The key question is how does a good diet and regular exercise protect you from Western diseases ? A full answer will include both benign and malignant diseases. There is now a developing view that addresses benign diseases. The full argument is set out in the paper on Western dieases on http://www.bristolanatomycourse.co.uk/ and relates to injuries to your autonomic nerves (see Wikipedia for a good description). The full paper is published as "Autonomic denervation and the origins of chronic Western diseases". Prolonged physical efforts during defaecation, prolonged physical efforts during labour, surgery, trauma and other unrecognised injuries to your autonomic nerves result in a wide range of physical consequences that lead to diverse and cumulative mechanisms for Western diseases.

How might your diet and injuries to autonomic nerves result in malignant disease ? Many cancer researchers talk about cancer initiators and promoters. This view is much more speculative though suggests an initiator (injuries to autonomic nerves) acting with a dietary promoter (dairy products in breast and prostate cancer, tobacco in lung cancer). Conventional medicine seems to act in contrary fashion by using serious chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery that includes removal of lymph nodes (innervated lymph nodes may assist in controlling local growth)

Much more work to do yet - but, on any base, diet and exercise are keys to "prevention and wellness" as it is difficult to explain the dramatic change in benign and malignant Western disease in the past century; it is too quick to be genetic in origin.