From eNewsletter 12/23/2019
DID YOU KNOW that American perception towards prescription drugs and more natural health solutions appears to be undergoing a significant shift?
According to a survey of 2,000 Americans, half have used a natural remedy to treat an ailment over prescription medication. Furthermore, the survey, which was commissioned by OnePoll, found that almost 75% of respondents believe natural remedies are safer overall than prescription medications. And you know what, they are right!
The study examined the reasons why people choose natural remedies as well. A significant 66% said these treatments were more affordable than prescription drugs, while 56% said they were easier to obtain. 50% said they used natural remedies because they didn't want to become addicted to prescription medication.
WHY DIDN'T MY DOC TELL ME THAT?
Bonnie and Steve: Not a day goes by when at least one client asks us why their doctor did not tell them about something nutrition-related that can help their malady. As frustrating as it is, you cannot blame them, especially after The Lancet Planetary Health released a damning study stating nutrition is insufficiently incorporated into medical education, meaning that medical students lack the confidence, skills and knowledge to provide nutritional care to patients.
The authors recommend that nutrition education be made compulsory for all medical students, a global benchmark on the required level of nutrition knowledge for future doctors be established, and more funding be put towards developing new ways to teach nutrition in medical school.
Globally, 11 million deaths annually are attributable to poor diet, making it the leading risk factor for death across the world. Accordingly, many countries recommend that doctors apply nutrition knowledge in practice to support patients to manage lifestyle-related chronic disease and other diet-related conditions. However, these findings suggest that nutrition in medical education is lacking in all countries studied.
What worse is that medical students wanted to receive nutrition education to develop their skills in nutrition care but perceived that their education did not equip them to do so, especially from lack of interest and expertise in nutrition among faculty members.
The authors underline that ongoing inadequate nutrition education will continue to affect the standard of care doctors are providing to patients, not least in preventative care.
A NUTRITIONAL CONCEPTS RETROSPECTIVE
Bonnie & Steve: As we enter the second decade of this century, it is fascinating to look back at the things we were doing at the beginning of the century. You could say we were ahead of our time with regard to genetics. Amazing how expensive genetic testing was back then!...This article is reserved for NCI Well Connect Members. You can get this article by signing up here. You can get our free eNewsletter by signing up at the top of our website.
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