“Design a Polymeal” competition winner
BMJ 2005; 330 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.330.7505.1422 (Published 16 June 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;330:1422All rapid responses
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I wish to congratulate Dr Heather A Haywood for the beautiful
recipes. I haven't studied the evidence in favour of the medical benefit
of the ingredients adequately enough to form a clear judgment about them.
But I would like to ask the opinion of fellow readers whether a simple
meal -- say some poultry cooked with garden vegetables, a salad and a
glass of wine -- might not be just as healthy. It might even be tastier if
one has't accustomed one's palate to the fancy cooking which professionals
such as doctors may be used to. I would add that if one were to take the
net time invested in gourmet cooking (over and above the time needed to
cook a simple meal) and put it into strenuous sport or martial art, the
health benefit may even be greater.
I would also like to ask whether the fact that there is proven health
benefit for each of the various major components of a meal entails that
they are beneficial when combined together. Wouldn't this have to be
proved? And wouldn't there have to be separate proofs for each of various
combinations?
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Damaged fruit contains higher levels of salicylates. Could your chef
advise on whether we should be dropping our fruit on the floor before
dipping it in the fondue? Or would the resultant forfeits outweigh any
health benefits?
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Will the BMJ competition-winning Polymeal cause migraine?
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar,
150 ml fruity red wine; 4 tablespoons white rum,
25 g butter
400 g plain bitter chocolate, 100 g white chocolate1
If I wanted to cause migraine and a higher risk of stroke,
prescribing a meal with the above ingredients, which is probably intended
to be washed down with yet more alcohol, would be a good way to do it.
In the 1970s much publicity was given to common dietary precipitants
of headaches such as cheese, chocolate, oranges and red wine.2,3
After a 5-day period of withdrawal from their usual diet, a third of
migraine patients reacted adversely to chocolate, cow’s milk and yeast.
Avoiding regular medications, exogenous hormones and tea, coffee and
alcoholic drinks, unmasked adverse reactions to frequently consumed food
and drinks. None needed regular medication and 85% of patients became
headache-free when they ate a low-allergy diet and those with hypertension
became normotensive.4
Some members of the medical profession are known to be regular
drinkers of alcohol. It is unfortunate that epidemiological studies have
given an illusory impression of benefit of alcohol drinking. A reality is
that less healthy, allergic migraine patients are often intolerant of
alcoholic drinks and are therefore classified in studies as non-drinking
controls. Drinking recommended units of alcohol therefore became
fashionable and drug prescribing for migraine has flourished.
The supreme importance of eating fish is being realised after eons of
over-fishing suggesting humans always knew this, while they were busy over
-populating the world.
1."Design a Polymeal" competition winner.BMJ 2005; 330: 1422
2. Hannington E. In Background to Migraine. 1969 Ed R Smith, London,
p10.
3 Smith I, Kellow AH, Mullen PE, Hanington E. Dietary migraine and
tyramine metabolism. Nature 1971; 230: 246-8.
4. Grant ECG. Food allergies and migraine. Lancet 1979:1: 966-69.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
I look forward to trying the recipe for the winnning Polymeal. At the
risk of sounding gloomy, the Marine Conservation Society
(www.fishonline.org) advises us to avoid overfished Atlantic cod until
stocks have improved. Happily there are many alternatives such as coley,
hoki, whiting or line-caught Pacific cod.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: The winning “Polymeal” and migraine
Perhaps the answer to Ellen Grant's concerns about the migraine-
inducing effect of the polymeal would be to serve it with a side salad to
which a few feverfew leaves have been added, or possibly to wash it down
with a mug of feverfew tea.
Feverfew may have some efficacy in preventing migraine, although this
has not been demonstrated convincingly [1]. As with most herbal
treatments, however, this may well be more to do with a lack of rigorous
studies than a lack of efficacy.
I hope that the randomised controlled trial of the polymeal (I take
it someone is planning one?) will include a feverfew salad arm and a
control salad arm so that we can settle this question once and for all.
References:
1. Pittler MH, Ernst E. Feverfew for preventing migraine. The
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2004, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD002286.
DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD002286.pub2.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests