Long-Term Consistency Is Key for Effective Dietary Therapy
Lately, many patients ask me: “Is dietary therapy really effective?” Everywhere we look, restaurants advertise “pharmacological diets”; newspapers, online media, and TV constantly promote that eating certain foods can fight cancer, others can supplement vitamins. We often follow these recommendations faithfully, but after eating, whether they truly work remains unclear.
Dietary therapy is complex, and since people don’t eat it daily, it’s beyond my scope here. Another form of dietary therapy I prefer to call “dietary control”—using food to supplement nutrients for strengthening the body and preventing diseases. Whether this approach works hinges entirely on long-term consistency. “Intermittent effort” not only fails to help but often harms health.
A key difference between dietary control and medication treatment is that the latter usually produces immediate results—seconds, minutes, or hours. In contrast, dietary control requires a “long-term battle.” Effects may take weeks, months, years, or even decades to appear. Media reports often highlight research outcomes but ignore the lengthy process. For example, a global study found that high-calcium diets could reduce colorectal cancer risk. Two groups were compared: one consumed high-calcium diets (over 1,000 mg calcium daily), the other low-calcium diets (under 400 mg daily). After 15 years, researchers concluded that high-calcium diets reduced colorectal cancer risk by 75%. But in real life? Many people read the report, think it’s great, drink milk the next morning, eat tofu at lunch, and boost calcium intake. By the third day, they only drink milk; by the fourth, they’ve forgotten entirely. Such short-lived enthusiasm cannot possibly produce real dietary therapy effects. Research proves even those who persisted for a year or several years showed no significant difference in colorectal cancer risk compared to the low-calcium group.
If dietary control isn’t sustained long-term, it won’t prevent disease and may even harm health—a risk many overlook yet actually exist. For instance, many emphasize vitamin supplementation, eating more vegetables and fruits, or taking supplements. If consistently maintained, this indeed boosts immunity and disease resistance. But if interrupted frequently—eating only when remembered or stopping mid-way—it may actually increase the risk of vitamin deficiency compared to those who never supplemented. This happens because high intake alters the body’s adaptation, reducing vitamin absorption efficiency. Once stopped, the body struggles to meet its needs. Even if interruption is unavoidable, it must be gradual—not abrupt.
People increasingly care about food nutrition, hoping dietary control promotes health—this is positive. But scientific understanding must be paired with scientific methods. Nothing in the world is as simple as it appears—dietary therapy is no exception.