National College Joins Food Research Project

"Let food be your medicine, and let medicine be your food," 
advised Hippocrates.  Taking his wisdom a step further, the 
National College of Chiropractic in Lombard, Illinois has joined
forces with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and
Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) to research food with medicinal 
properties. This move makes NCC one of the first chiropractic
colleges to conduct nutritional research.

Concurrently, an NCC research team is also attempting to develop
a simple, more workable urine test to screen for vitamin A
deficiency and toxicity.

The new research program, Functional Foods for Health (FFH), is
the nation's first full-scale scientific program designed to study
what components of food can help to prevent disease and promote
better health.  Once these components are identified, so the 
theory goes, the levels of these components can be increased in
foods to allow consumers to reap the health benefits.

Many people re already familiar with the concept of functional
foods, although the term may be unfamiliar.  Functional foods is
a phrase to identify edibles that are not only nutritious, but
contain ingredients that enhance specific bodily functions.
Examples of functional foods are fruits and vegetables, which
give indications of having anti-cancer properties.  Researchers
are also examining the role of soy consumption in lowering the 
risk of heart disease, and the part garlic plays in strengthening
the immune system.  These are just a few examples of the type of
research that will be conducted by the program.

"In my 37 years of research, I have never heard of any chiropractic
college doing nutritional research," says Hal Miller, DC, director
of research for the American Chiropractic Association's Council
on Nutrition.  Dr. Miller, a graduate of NCC in 1959, is excited
by the possibilities this program brings.  "The medical doctor
has medicine and surgery.  Chiropractic has our hands-on therapy,
plus we have always been interested in vitamins and minerals and
natural ways of helping the body heal."

Dr. Malford Cullum, PhD, an associate professor of physiology and
biochemistry at NCC, agrees.  "With chiropractic not dependent
upon drugs or surgery, I think functional foods take the high
road pushing the most straight-up alternative medicine we can find."

NCC may be among the first chiropractic colleges in the nation
to conduct nutritional research, but the college has been involved
with nutritional matters dating back to its founder and first
president, Dr, John F.A. Howard, DC.  In the early 19002, Dr.
Howard formulated a holistic health system that incorporated
spinal manipulation with nutrition, exercise, and stressed the
importance of fresh food, clean water, natural light, and plenty
of fresh air.

"Howard referenced the use of foods as medicine," notes Dr.
Cullum, National's program coordinator for the Functional Foods
for Health program.  "The Functional Foods Program focuses 
directly on the use of food and food components to promote good
health."

The Functional Foods for Health Program is funded by several
colleges at UIC and UIUC, as well as a number of prominent food
companies, including Kelloggs, the Ross Division of Abbott 
Laboratories, Monsanto, and Archer Daniels Midland.

(Published in Dynamic Chiropractic, December 16, 1996.)