It’s amazing really. In my herbal practice, I’ve seen countless examples of this fascinating connection between a medicinal plant’s appearance and its medicinal properties. But it’s not just medicinal herbs – our everyday fruits and vegetables tell a similar story, and in this post, I’d love to share what I’ve discovered with you.

Whilst some of his ideas were a bit dodgy (please don’t go eating poisonous plants just because they look medicinal!), it’s rather amazing how many of these visual connections have stood up to modern scientific scrutiny.

For Your Heart

Next time you’re slicing a tomato for your sandwich, have a proper look at it. Those chambers inside? They’re remarkably similar to our heart’s structure. It’s not just for show. Tomatoes are packed with lycopene. Higher lycopene intakes are associated with a 14 per cent lower risk of heart disease. I always drizzle mine with a bit of olive oil – it helps your body to absorb the lycopene better.

And speaking of heart health, there’s something quite poetic about red wine matching the colour of our blood. It’s the polyphenols in red wine that may help protect against troublesome LDL cholesterol.

Your Amazing Brain

Walnuts are absolutely brilliant – crack one open, and you’ll see what looks like a miniature brain, complete with left and right hemispheres. They’re packed with the plant omega-3 fatty acid ALA. Your body converts a small amount of it into the fats your brain uses. I keep a little jar of them on my desk for afternoon snacking.

Those cheerful bananas with their smile-like curve? They contain tryptophan, one of the building blocks your body uses to make serotonin. Rather clever, that.

For Your Breathing

I find grape clusters particularly fascinating – they mirror the structure of our lung alveoli perfectly. The resveratrol in grapes has been studied for its effects on airway inflammation, mostly in laboratory research so far. And look at broccoli – those tiny florets are like a miniature bronchial tree. Broccoli contains sulphoraphane, a compound researchers are studying for its role in lung health.

Supporting Life

Avocados are particularly special – their shape and growth pattern mirror a pregnant uterus, and they’re packed with folate essential for reproductive health. Olives, shaped like ovaries, are a rich source of monounsaturated fats. And figs, well, their structure rather resembles male reproductive anatomy.

For Your Insides

Ginger’s gnarly root system is rather like our digestive tract, and it’s brilliant for settling an upset tummy. Kidney beans – well, the clue’s in the name, isn’t it? The resemblance is where it ends, though they are an excellent source of fibre and plant protein. And sweet potatoes, shaped like the pancreas, contain fibre that slows the release of their natural sugars.

Your Framework

Have you ever noticed how celery stalks look rather like bones? They contain small amounts of silicon, a mineral researchers are studying for its role in bone health. And onions, with their concentric rings like cellular layers, support cellular health with quercetin.

What I find absolutely fascinating as a herbalist is how these visual connections are just the tip of the iceberg. Take broccoli, for instance. One study looked at men who ate three or more servings of cruciferous vegetables a week. Their prostate cancer risk was 41 per cent lower than in men eating less than one serving a week. Broccoli is one of those vegetables, and it supports our health in dozens of other ways too.

Many of these foods and medicinal plants do have proven benefits – and they usually provide health benefits in ways far beyond their physical appearance. And, it’s always exciting when modern research confirms these traditional observations through proper scientific study. If nothing else, it serves as a reminder of the passing on of healing knowledge through the generations.