This post asks an important question, one we think we know the answer to but it really requires some reflection. It also reminded me if what the grandmothers used to say “Pay the grocer or pay the doctor”. It is crucial we understand the real value of food.
The advent of the Nutrition and Health Claims regulations came about because there was concern amongst regulators and politicians that products were being sold in the European market with health claims that were false or unable to be substantiated by science. From that moment on regulators made it clear that in their view food is not a medicine.
A medicine is defined as a drug or other preparation for the treatment or prevention of disease. Over the past fifty years the pharmaceutical and retail industries have developed a readily available selection of drugs for minor ailments that keep us away from doctors. Pills or a course of anti-biotics have become part of life as the means to allow us to carry on with our lives without being troubled by minor illnesses.
Food therefore has become a means of providing the fuel to keep us going. Product nutritional detail is angled…
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Thought + Food 