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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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Root causes & philosophy

🌱 The Twelve Root Causes of Ill Health, Explained (B1–B12)

Most everyday health complaints trace back to a small number of underlying patterns. This guide explains Farmicine's twelve root causes, B1 to B12, in one paragraph each, shows how a symptom such as fatigue maps to several of them, lists the labs a doctor can use to tell them apart, and describes how solution packages are built on the result.

By the Farmicine editorial team·Reviewed for claims compliance·5 min read· 30s 40s 50s 60s
In this guideWhy start with patterns instead of symptoms?What are the twelve patterns?How does one symptom map to a pattern?How are solution packages built on the patterns?When to see a doctor

The complaints heard in any Bengaluru clinic are familiar: tired all the time, bloated after meals, weight at the waist, hair falling, sleep that does not restore. The root causes of ill health behind them are fewer than the symptoms suggest. Farmicine describes twelve wellness patterns, B1 to B12. They are not medical categories and never replace your doctor's assessment; they are a way of asking better questions beneath a symptom, and of choosing food first.

Why start with patterns instead of symptoms?

A symptom is the body's output. Chasing outputs one at a time, a tablet for acidity, a serum for hair, a pill for sleep, leaves the input untouched. A pattern is the input: a long-running state that produces several outputs at once, so one food-first change can address all of them.

What are the twelve patterns?

B1 Chronic Inflammation

A low, steady internal fire the body never fully puts out: morning-stiff joints, skin that flares, puffiness, tiredness that rest does not relieve. Labs a doctor can use: hs-CRP, ESR, omega-3 index. Food: fatty fish or algal oil, turmeric with pepper and ghee, amla. Read more.

B2 Oxidative Stress

Free radicals outpace the body's antioxidant defences, ageing cells faster than they repair: skin that looks tired early, slow recovery from exercise, poor tolerance of late nights. Labs: HbA1c as a glycation load, a lipid profile. Food: amla, green tea, nuts and seeds, dark berries.

B3 Metabolic Dysfunction

Insulin resistance drives a slow drift: waist weight, afternoon crashes, sugar cravings, dark velvety skin at the neck, fat in the liver. Labs: fasting insulin, HbA1c, the triglyceride-to-HDL ratio, ALT. Food: millets, oats and pulses, methi and karela, cinnamon, curd.

B4 Gut Dysbiosis and Leaky Gut

An imbalanced microbiome and a permeable gut wall let the wrong things through: bloating, reflux or irregular bowels, foods that suddenly disagree, skin flares, brain fog after meals. Labs: stool calprotectin or a coeliac screen if a doctor advises; B12, ferritin and vitamin D as absorption checks. Food: curd, idli-dosa ferments, kanji, cooled rice, ginger, jeera, garlic.

B5 Hormonal Imbalance

The thyroid, adrenal and sex-hormone axes drift out of tune with stress and nutrient gaps: irregular cycles, unexplained weight change, thinning hair, feeling cold, hot flushes. Labs: TSH, free T4, free T3, thyroid antibodies, fasting insulin, ferritin. Food: flax, sesame and pumpkin seeds, eggs or paneer, Brazil nuts.

B6 Impaired Detoxification

Liver, kidney, lymph and skin fall behind the daily load: sluggish digestion, coated tongue, breakouts, sensitivity to alcohol, raised liver enzymes. Labs: ALT, AST, GGT, creatinine and eGFR, uric acid. Food: cruciferous vegetables, garlic and turmeric, beetroot, amla, water and fibre.

B7 Mitochondrial Dysfunction

The cells' power plants are under-fuelled; fatigue is a supply problem more often than a sleep problem: tiredness rest does not resolve, brain fog, breathlessness on stairs, pale inner eyelids. Labs: CBC and ferritin, B12 and folate, thyroid function, vitamin D. Food: lentils with lemon, dates, beetroot, eggs.

B8 Immune Dysregulation

The immune system over-reacts, under-reacts or turns on the body: frequent colds, allergies or asthma flares, autoimmune conditions in the family. Labs: vitamin D, CBC, CRP. Food: citrus, amla and guava, pumpkin seeds, mushrooms, the ginger-tulsi-turmeric kadha tradition.

B9 Cardiovascular and Microcirculation

The vessel lining loses flexibility and circulation becomes less efficient: creeping blood pressure, cold hands and feet, leg cramps on walking, a family history of heart disease. Labs: a blood pressure log, lipid profile with ApoB where available, HbA1c. Food: beetroot, garlic, fatty fish or algal oil, oats, nuts.

B10 Connective Tissue and Structural Decline

Collagen, bone and the body's scaffolding weaken faster than they rebuild: joint stiffness, height loss, brittle nails, skin laxity, low protein intake. Labs: vitamin D, calcium and PTH if advised, a DEXA scan after 50. Food: dal-and-grain pairing, dairy, eggs, sesame and ragi.

B11 Chronic Stress and the HPA Axis

Sustained cortisol sits upstream of much ill health and amplifies every other pattern: wired-but-tired evenings, waking at 3 am, cravings, hair shedding, poor focus. Labs: morning cortisol if advised, fasting glucose, thyroid function, magnesium. Food: warm milk traditions, banana, oats, pumpkin seeds, tulsi.

B12 Pathogenic Burden

A stealth bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic load keeps the immune system busy and the gut unsettled: recurring throat, sinus or urinary infections, bloating within minutes of eating, lingering post-viral fatigue; unexplained low-grade fever always goes to a doctor. Labs, as a clinician directs: cultures, H. pylori test, stool studies. Food: garlic, ginger, turmeric, fermented foods, pomegranate, protein.

How does one symptom map to a pattern?

Take "always tired". It could be B7 (low iron or B12), B3 (sugar swings), B11 (poor sleep), B5 (a slow thyroid), B1 (inflammation) or B12 (a lingering infection). The symptom generates the questions; a short set of labs your doctor orders, a CBC with ferritin, B12, vitamin D, TSH, HbA1c and hs-CRP, narrows it to one or two patterns. The AI Wellness Assistant works through this mapping and flags when a question belongs with a doctor rather than with food.

How are solution packages built on the patterns?

Every Farmicine solution theme, from gut to bone to cardiovascular, is anchored to one or two of these patterns. The sequence is always the same: identify the pattern, change the plate first, add the smallest useful stack of evidence-graded products, measure at Day 0, 45 and 90, and stay with the person long term. METRON gives each pattern a cellular address, which is why the Good Life dashboard shows six rings rather than one number. Explore the map at root causes and the pillars in METRON explained.

When to see a doctor

Patterns are a wellness lens, never a substitute for medical assessment. See a doctor promptly for unexplained weight loss, persistent fever, blood in urine or stool, chest pain or breathlessness, a new lump, fainting, numbness that spreads, or any symptom lasting more than a few weeks. If you are under care for a condition, discuss any new food or supplement plan with that doctor first.

Related reading

Root causes & philosophy

⚙️ METRON: Six Pillars of Cellular Health, Explained

METRON is Farmicine's six-letter map of what a healthy cell needs: Mitochondrial fitness, Energy and metabolic flexibility, Toxin clearance, Resolution of inflammation, Optimised nutrient sensing and a Nourished microbiome. This guide explains each pillar with Indian food and habit examples and shows how the six progress rings on your dashboard map onto them.

Reading your body

🔥 hs-CRP and ESR: Inflammation Blood Tests Explained

hs-CRP and ESR are the two inflammation markers most Indian labs offer, and both are easy to over-read. This guide explains what each measures, why a raised value needs context, how the numbers connect to the Chronic Inflammation pattern and the omega-3 index, and when a retest actually means something.

Reading your body

🍚 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.

Explore

The twelve root causesAI Wellness AssistantSolution Packages

Frequently asked

Are the twelve root causes medical conditions?

No. They are wellness patterns that help organise symptoms and food-first choices. The diagnosis is your doctor's, and the labs listed are ones a doctor can order to clarify the picture.

Can I have more than one pattern at once?

Usually you do. Chronic stress (B11) amplifies most of the others, and metabolic dysfunction (B3) and inflammation (B1) often travel together. Solutions are built around the one or two that dominate.

Which blood tests help tell the patterns apart?

A CBC with ferritin, B12, vitamin D, TSH, HbA1c, a lipid profile, ALT and hs-CRP cover most of the patterns. Your doctor adds others such as fasting insulin or thyroid antibodies as needed.

How do the patterns relate to METRON?

Each pattern sits under one of the six METRON pillars, which describe cellular health. B1 and B8 sit under Resolution of inflammation, B3 and B5 under Energy and metabolic flexibility, and so on.

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.