When British nutrition guru Patrick Holford visits Singapore next week, he willbe giving out prescriptions of a different kind. His latest book carries thesimple and controversial title: Food Is Better Medicine Than Drugs.

Mr Holford, who founded the Institute of Optimum Nutrition and is known for hisnutritional approaches to depression, schizophrenia and eating disorders,co-authored the book with Mr Jerome Burne, a medical journalist with TheGuardian newspaper.

The book tells people how to manage common health problems without having toresort to painkillers, anti-depressants and sleeping pills.

While Mr Holford will also be conducting a seminar for doctors, the book hasmet with criticism from some in the medical community. Some doctors say thebook is not so much about food as it is about food and nutritional supplements,which ultimately are also chemicals.

Mind Your Body interviewed Mr Holford over e-mail to find out about theseminars he will be conducting in Singapore from Nov 22 to 25.

Improving one's nutrition and opting for naturally occurring nutrients can give one the extra energy and edge, says Mr Holford.

What do you think are the biggest problems with the way we eat today?

We eat sugar and refined foods for energy, drink caffeinated drinks for apick-me-up and then find it difficult to sleep and relax, perhaps resorting toalcohol, or ending up on sleeping pills or anti-depressants.

These foods and drinks make you more and more tired, you gain weight and startto crave sweet foods.

This way of living is a recipe for weight gain, low energy and mood, tensionand anxiety and, ultimately, diabetes and heart disease.

What are some of the issues that you will be focusing on in your talks inSingapore?

I'm going to start at the beginning - that's pregnancy and kids. I'll beexplaining how to have a healthy pregnancy and produce super healthy babies,and explain how to maximise children's potential for both health andintelligence.

One in six children has special educational needs, perhaps because of AttentionDeficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or autism. Far too many are beingprescribed stimulant drugs.

I'll be going into the four golden rules for children: balance blood sugar,ensure essential fats, up vitamins and minerals, and consider allergies.

What are some of the common nutritional deficiencies among children?

The most common are omega-3 fats, zinc and magnesium. Omega-3 fats are incold-water oily fish. You can get some from flax seeds. Children are eatingless fish these days.

Zinc is in seeds and nuts.

Magnesium is too, especially in pumpkin seeds. It is also high in dark greenvegetables.

Children also need enough vitamin C and B vitamins, rich in fresh fruit andvegetables. We now have 12 studies in which children are given multi-vitaminsversus placebos. Ten of the studies show a clear improvement in IQ.

What foods are bad for children?

Children are our future and I firmly believe that we have to control morestrictly the advertising of highly sugared and caffeinated foods to kids.

Right now, you have three teaspoons of sugar in your blood. A 2-litre colabottle has 45 teaspoons of sugar, plus four espressos.

What foods are better medicine than drugs?

Niacin (vitamin B3) lowers cholesterol far better than statins, and without theside effects. There are 40 studies showing this, reviewed in top medicaljournals like the New England Journal Of Medicine.

Magnesium is much better for lowering blood pressure than calcium channelblockers. In fact, what calcium channel blockers do is raise the relativeamount of magnesium within muscle cells in the arteries, thus relaxing thearteries and lowering blood pressure.

Calcium channel blockers, on the other hand, block a cell's ability to take upan essential mineral.

Chromium works better than most anti-diabetic drugs. So does cinnamon.

It's not the lack of evidence or science that's the obstacle. It's the money.

You can't patent a naturally occurring nutrient and if you can't patent it, youcan't make big bucks. There are no drug reps knocking on your doctor's doortrying to sell cinnamon, chromium or vitamin B3.

It's easier to test a pill than a diet. What is the evidence for the efficacyof a nutritional approach in reducing disease?

Eating a diet high in plant sterols, beta-glucans for a month has been shown tolower cholesterol slightly better than statin drugs.

A Mediterranean-type diet (high in olive oil, fish, fresh vegetables and nuts)has been shown to halve diabetes risk compared to metformin, the most commonlyprescribed drug (for the disease).

A low-dairy, high-bean diet cuts breast and prostate cancer risk by much morethan half.

How much of our mental well-being depends on the kind of food we eat?

I am CEO of the Food for the Brain Charity (www.foodforthebrain.org). At ourtreatment centre in London, we have seen people recover from depression,insomnia, age-related memory decline and other serious mental health conditionssimply by changing their nutrition.

One man, for example, completely resolved his depression, stress and anxiety infour weeks - and his cholesterol level dropped from high to normal.

Before, he was sleeping badly, tired all the time and drinking alcohol to relaxin the evening.

Same job, same wife, same mortgage!

What optimum nutrition does is to give you the energy and the edge to deal withthe fast pace of modern life.

This story first appeared in Mind Your Body on Nov 15, 2006.