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Good nutrition - the way to a healthy life
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
Doctor Alexander Martynchuk, the best specialist in the field of gastroenterology and dietetics, spoke about the danger that genetically modified products pose to Ukrainians and what are the health characteristics of modern people.
According to Alexander Martynchuk, in our country GMO is just an empty phrase, the mandatory labeling on the packaging "GMO-free" is a distortion of reality. There are currently a huge number of genetic modifications. Only a small part of such products are tested in our laboratories (out of a thousand modifications, only 3-5 are tested).
Modification changes the product, gives it a new property, due to which the yield increases, the size, shelf life, etc. For example, Colorado beetles avoid modified potatoes, which makes caring for them much easier. Potato leaves begin to secrete a substance that poisons the beetle. It is impossible to say exactly how such a substance will affect a person.
Currently, research cannot accurately confirm the harm or benefit of genetically modified products, very little time has passed since their appearance. Scientists admit possible harm, but no one can give exact data. Now we can say with confidence that the use of products containing GMOs increases the risk of allergic reactions, digestive problems. It is assumed that GMOs lead to oncological diseases, but there is no scientific evidence for this.
The modern world will not be able to completely abandon genetically modified products. The population of the Earth is increasing, and accordingly more food is required. There are no other ways to feed people, except for genetic modification of products.
Every year more and more funds are allocated for healthcare. The money is mainly spent on purchasing new diagnostic equipment and purchasing medicines. But the incidence rate of Ukrainians is increasing, and every year there are more and more diseases. In our country, the main fight is aimed at eliminating the consequences, but it is necessary to direct all efforts precisely to disease prevention.
Recently, more and more people complain of digestive problems and poor health. Alexander Martynchuk believes that, first of all, this is caused by the lifestyle of residents of large cities and office workers. Constant lack of sleep, the pace of life, frequent stress, a mostly sedentary lifestyle, "fast" food, late and heavy dinners - all this eventually leads to health problems, a person does not pay attention to the body and his condition until it is too late.
The only thing a person can significantly influence is nutrition. Human health depends primarily on genetics, nothing can be done about it, then on the environment, there is also little that can be done about it. And in third place is nutrition and lifestyle. Nutrition is a very strong factor of influence. The ancient Greeks even subjected a person to food torture - for two weeks the punished person was given nothing but red wine and red meat. As a result, the person began to have terrible pain throughout the body, gout developed, which was provoked by the high content of urea and purine in the body. Even strong narcotic painkillers do not always help people suffering from gout.
A varied diet is very important for a modern person. Each product has its own set of vitamins and microelements. If you constantly eat the same thing or often eat fast food, a person begins to experience a deficiency in some vitamins. In this case, the body cannot work at full capacity, which leads to diseases.