Nutritional Therapies | Food as Medicine
Food as medicine, also known as “food is medicine” is defined as a therapeutic method in which food and nutrition are used in the prevention and treatment of chronic, non-communicable disease (also increasingly recognized as diet related chronic disease).
The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, in its 2019 Global Burden of Disease Report, analyzed data from more than 190 countries and found that what people eat, and fail to eat, is the leading cause of disease and death globally.
However, food and nutrition education in medical school as well as nutrition education and support for health care professionals is lacking.
In fact, only 27% of medical schools in the U.S. provide the minimum 25 hours as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences since 1985. Furthermore, only 14% of medical residents (physicians in training) believe they possess the knowledge and training to provide nutrition counseling to patients, nor do they know the guidelines for diagnosing and treating obesity.