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“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”— Thomas A. Edison🌿“No illness which can be treated by diet should be treated by any other means.”— Maimonides (commonly attributed)🌿“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use; when diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”— Ayurvedic proverb🌿“Medicine and food share a common origin.”— Traditional Chinese medicine saying🌿“Food is medicine is not only an idea whose time has come; it is absolutely essential.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“Nature is the true healer. The physician is only nature's assistant.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“All that man needs for health and healing has been provided in nature; the challenge of science is to find it.”— Attributed to Paracelsus🌿“Vitality and beauty are gifts of Nature for those who live according to its laws.”— Leonardo da Vinci🌿“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”— Attributed to Voltaire🌿“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”— Benjamin Franklin🌿“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise — not too little and not too much — we would have found the safest way to health.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Eating alone will not keep a man well; he must also take exercise.”— Hippocrates, On Regimen🌿“Health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life.”— WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion🌿“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being — not merely the absence of disease.”— WHO Constitution🌿“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”— Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin🌿“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Do not eat anything your great-grandmother would not recognise as food.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Diet-related diseases produce crushing health and economic burdens.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Good food is a right, not a privilege.”— Alice Waters🌿“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”— Thomas A. Edison🌿“No illness which can be treated by diet should be treated by any other means.”— Maimonides (commonly attributed)🌿“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use; when diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”— Ayurvedic proverb🌿“Medicine and food share a common origin.”— Traditional Chinese medicine saying🌿“Food is medicine is not only an idea whose time has come; it is absolutely essential.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“Nature is the true healer. The physician is only nature's assistant.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“All that man needs for health and healing has been provided in nature; the challenge of science is to find it.”— Attributed to Paracelsus🌿“Vitality and beauty are gifts of Nature for those who live according to its laws.”— Leonardo da Vinci🌿“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”— Attributed to Voltaire🌿“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”— Benjamin Franklin🌿“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise — not too little and not too much — we would have found the safest way to health.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Eating alone will not keep a man well; he must also take exercise.”— Hippocrates, On Regimen🌿“Health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life.”— WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion🌿“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being — not merely the absence of disease.”— WHO Constitution🌿“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”— Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin🌿“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Do not eat anything your great-grandmother would not recognise as food.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Diet-related diseases produce crushing health and economic burdens.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Good food is a right, not a privilege.”— Alice Waters🌿
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Reading your body

🩸 CBC Blood Test Explained: Haemoglobin, MCV, Platelets

The complete blood count is the most ordered test in India and the least explained. This guide walks through haemoglobin, red-cell size, RDW, platelets and white cells, shows how small versus large cells point to different nutritional stories, and explains the thalassaemia trait pattern every Indian family should know about.

By the Farmicine editorial team·Reviewed for claims compliance·4 min read· 20s 30s 40s
In this guideWhat does a complete blood count measure?Why is haemoglobin the headline number?What does MCV tell you about the cause?What about platelets and white cells?What is the thalassaemia trait note for Indian families?Which food-first steps rebuild blood?When to see a doctor

The CBC blood test explained in one sentence: it counts your red cells, white cells and platelets, and measures how big and how full of haemoglobin the red cells are. That short list answers a surprising number of questions about energy, iron, B12, infection and bleeding. Here is how to read the dozen lines on an Indian CBC report without a medical degree.

What does a complete blood count measure?

  • Haemoglobin (Hb) in g/dL, the oxygen-carrying protein and the headline number.
  • Red blood cell count (RBC) in millions per microlitre.
  • MCV, the mean size of your red cells in femtolitres; roughly 80 to 100 fL is the usual range.
  • MCH and MCHC, how much haemoglobin each cell carries.
  • RDW, how much the cells vary in size.
  • White blood cells (WBC) with a differential: neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils, monocytes and basophils.
  • Platelets, usually printed in lakhs per cumm in India (1.5 to 4.5 lakh is a typical range) or as thousands per microlitre elsewhere.

Why is haemoglobin the headline number?

Haemoglobin tells you how much oxygen your blood can carry. The WHO cut-offs used across India read anaemia as below 12 g/dL in non-pregnant women and below 13 g/dL in men. National surveys have repeatedly found that more than half of Indian women of reproductive age fall below the line, mostly from iron shortfall, so a low value is common but never normal. Symptoms are tiredness, breathlessness on stairs, cold hands, pale inner eyelids, hair fall and poor concentration. Haemoglobin says that there is a problem; the next lines say which kind.

What does MCV tell you about the cause?

Red-cell size is the detective's clue. The associations below are patterns a doctor confirms, not conclusions you reach alone.

  • Low MCV (small cells) with low ferritin is the classic iron-deficiency pattern. The bone marrow cannot build full-sized cells without iron. Ferritin below about 30 ng/mL means stores are depleted even if haemoglobin is still normal; that is the stage where iron-rich food and gentle iron work best.
  • High MCV (large cells) with low B12 or folate is the megaloblastic pattern. Cells grow large because DNA copying is slow. In Indian vegetarians, B12 is the usual culprit; a value below 200 pg/mL is low on most reports, and 200 to 400 is a borderline band where many people already have symptoms.
  • Normal MCV with a high RDW often means a mixed picture: small iron-poor cells and large B12-poor cells averaging out. Checking ferritin, B12 and folate together clears it up.
  • High MCV with normal B12 and folate is associated with alcohol, thyroid changes, liver conditions and some medicines.

Two confounders are worth knowing. Ferritin rises with any inflammation or infection, so a "normal" ferritin of 60 with a raised CRP may still hide iron shortfall. And HbA1c can read inaccurately when red cells are turning over abnormally, which links your CBC to your sugar report.

What about platelets and white cells?

Platelets are the clotting cells. A low count is associated with dengue and other viral illnesses, some medicines, B12 or folate deficiency and liver conditions; a high count is commonly associated with iron deficiency, inflammation or recent infection, and usually settles when the cause does. White cells rise with bacterial infection, stress and smoking, and fall with some viral infections and medicines. The differential adds detail: raised eosinophils are associated with allergy, asthma and intestinal parasites, which remain common in India; a high lymphocyte share often follows a viral illness.

What is the thalassaemia trait note for Indian families?

Thalassaemia trait (carrier state) affects a meaningful share of Indian adults, with higher rates in some communities. On a CBC it looks like iron deficiency at first glance: small cells and a low MCV. The differences are that the RBC count is normal or high rather than low, ferritin is normal, and the ratio of MCV to RBC count (the Mentzer index) is below about 13. This matters for two reasons. Iron will not help and can accumulate if taken for years in error, so a doctor should confirm with an Hb electrophoresis (HbA2) test before long-term iron is started. And if the trait is confirmed, a partner should be screened before planning a pregnancy, because two carriers can have a child with thalassaemia major. The trait itself needs no therapy and is compatible with a completely normal life.

Which food-first steps rebuild blood?

Pair plant iron with vitamin C: dal with a squeeze of lemon, palak with tomato, amla or guava after lunch. Keep tea and coffee an hour away from iron-rich meals, because tannins block most of the absorption. Add dates, beetroot, pumpkin seeds, sesame and ragi. Vegetarians should regard B12 as a real gap: dairy and curd supply a little, and a supplement is usually the reliable route, set by your advisor with your doctor. Folate comes from greens, pulses and citrus. These are the levers in the Energy & blood-building solution and the Mitochondrial Dysfunction (B7) pattern. For context on where the CBC sits in your full report, read how to read a blood test report, and for the visible clues that often come first, see signs of deficiency you can see.

When to see a doctor

See a doctor the same day for haemoglobin below 8 g/dL, platelets below one lakh per cumm, a white count far above or below range, or if the lab has marked any value critical. Book promptly for any new anaemia, especially in a man or a woman past menopause, where hidden blood loss from the gut must be ruled out before iron is started. Seek urgent care for black or bloody stools, heavy periods with dizziness, unexplained bruising, fever with a low white count, or breathlessness at rest. Food rebuilds blood slowly; the reason it was low is your doctor's question to answer.

Related reading

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🪞 Signs of Nutrient Deficiency You Can See in the Mirror

The body displays its shortfalls on the surface long before a report does. This atlas walks through ten visible signs, from pale inner eyelids to bleeding gums, explains what each is commonly associated with, checks a few popular myths, and shows how a sign should generate questions for your doctor rather than a self-made conclusion.

Reading your body

🧪 How to Read a Blood Test Report in India: Plain Guide

A routine Indian lab report is nine or ten short stories told in numbers. This guide explains what each panel measures, why reference ranges differ between labs, what the H and L flags really mean, and how to read a report in a calm, useful order before you meet your doctor.

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🍚 HbA1c vs Fasting Glucose: What Your Sugar Report Means

Fasting glucose, post-meal glucose and HbA1c each tell a different part of the same sugar story. This guide explains the commonly used pre-diabetes cut-offs in plain terms, why the 4 pm energy crash matters, and the food-first and movement habits that work alongside your doctor's care.

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Frequently asked

What is a normal haemoglobin level in India?

The WHO cut-offs commonly used read anaemia as below 12 g/dL in non-pregnant women and below 13 g/dL in men. Pregnancy and altitude use different cut-offs.

What does a low MCV mean?

Small red cells. With low ferritin it is the usual iron-deficiency pattern; with normal ferritin and a normal or high RBC count it may suggest thalassaemia trait, which a doctor confirms with an HbA2 test.

Can my ferritin be normal and I still be low in iron?

Yes. Ferritin rises with infection, inflammation and fatty liver, so a normal ferritin alongside a raised CRP can still hide depleted stores. Your doctor may look at transferrin saturation as well.

Why are platelets written in lakhs on Indian reports?

It is a unit convention. 1.5 lakh per cumm equals 150,000 per microlitre. The typical range is about 1.5 to 4.5 lakh.

This guide is wellness education, not medical advice, and does not replace a consultation with your doctor. Farmicine products are food supplements that support structure and function; they are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.