HUB's LIST of medical fun facts

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates

Everyone knows about RDA values ((Recommended Daily Allowance) set by the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) for food chemicals (aka protein, minerals, vitamins, and other micronutrients) for various foods. The RDAs are for 150 essential nutrients necessary for human growth and energy listed and described in detail since 1943. The RDAs are even adjusted for different climates and ages (newborn and elderly).

“Current evidence from food science and genome research indicates that there are more than 139,000 chemicals in food that can effect large numbers of human proteins. Approximately 2000 of these food chemical molecules are already used as drugs. The remaining 137,000 chemical molecules in our food are in  the “nutrition dark matter”(NDM), a term coined in 2019. (NEJM 392:18 May 5, 2025).

Raw garlic, for instance, used medicinally as far back as ancient Egypt, contains 6802 small molecules (chemicals), but the USDA tracks only 69 of them. Some untracked molecules in garlic (including the ones responsible for its unique odor) have been shown to protect against cancer and inflammation. We already know that certain food chemicals mimic anti-platelet drugs. Salicylic acid (aspirin) is found in various fruits and vegetable, and a compound similar to lovastatin (lowers blood lipid levels) is found in red yeast rice. The quinine in the tonic you mix with your gin or vodka is, of course, a treatment for malaria, and believe it or not, for night-time muscle cramps.

The food chemicals in the “nutrition dark matter” (NDM) represents “a huge reservoir of untapped understanding of our complex chemical diet and its potential health implications, as well as being a potential source of new drugs”. Over twenty per cent of existing drugs are already on the NDM list. The American Heart Association, among others, is striving to develop a standardized table of food chemicals to spur research into their various therapeutic benefits, a field newly coined as  “foodomics”. “Mapping NDM could accelerate drug discovery which would complement the achievements of the Human Genome Project”.

Thousands of NDM molecules are already known to interact with half of human proteins.  A single NDM molecule ”targets” or interacts with an average of 24 proteins, peptides, and enzymes which is 3 times the equivalent interactions of drugs. Foodomics is a very complicated research arena. Foodomics researchers will first need to identify a specific food chemical molecule out of the thousands to study, then determine its structure, then compare it to existing effective therapeutic drugs, then learn how it interacts with genes and proteins (both extra- and intra-cellular), then estimate the chemical’s benefits and side-effects, then determine which molecules are in which food ingredients, at which level, if they are absorbed, and if they are metabolized by our gut microbiome. Then the food will be tested at various amounts, ingested at various times, co-ingested with which other foods, and for various durations on diverse populations before a healthy or therapeutic diet can be recommended!  Yikes, talk about a huge amount of expensive basic research! I wonder if it will get funded?

Guess what is going to help with all that effort . . .  AI, of course. “Genetic effects account for only 10% of disease occurrence. The bulk of the remaining disease occurrence can be linked to environmental and dietary factors.” (CDC, Aug. 19,2022) “AI-driven prediction of the targets of NDM molecules and network medicine [the genome] could help researchers scale up delineation of mechanisms of action. Unlocking this knowledge could revolutionize the way we think about the role of food in health.” 

In the meantime you can expect continued, relentless media promotions of special foods, supplements, peptides, and diets with all sorts of therapeutic value. Just remember, even when well-intentioned, such recommendations (ads) are not evidenced-based, but are hopes and wishes at best, often based on single or a few dramatic anecdotes.

“The best [and the proof] is yet to come.”

BREAKING NEWS: What not to eat – Consumer Reports has just identified 10 foods that are dangerous to eat (May 2025):

Cassava flour:  contains 1723% of your allowable daily lead level. Cassava root apparently absorbs lead from the ground in which it                    is grown. The only brand name I recognized was Sea Salt Cassava Toastones Chips from Whole Foods.

The rest of the foods listed are dangerous depending on how they are prepared (washed and cooked):

• Deli meats (Listeria, salmonella),
• cucumbers (salmonella),
• raw milk (E. Coli),
• soft cheeses (Listeria),
• eggs (salmonella),
• onions (E. coli),
• leafy greens (E.coli),
• organic carrots (E.coli),
• organic basil (salmonella),
• cooked poultry (Listeria)
• plus 5 bonus warnings – raw sprouts, raw shellfish, ground meat, uncooked flour, unpasteurized juice and cider.

Looks like the only food that is truly safe are my two favorites, Oreos and ice cream.