Nutrition and Public Health

Nutrition at one time was taught in schools, yet was rarely used except to provide guidelines for diabetic patients who needed to control their diet. Insurance companies neglected the use of nutritional counseling as a means of preventing or controlling diseases. On the other hand, cultures from every part of the world were aware of the value of nutrition-based therapies as a kind of folk medicine. Often strict guidelines were in place to follow specific diets when ailing patients were treated. With the advent of the Internet culture and the massive amount of health and nutritional material freely available to the public, nutrition-based therapies have become highly popular. Combined with the expenses associated with non-nutritional therapies, more and more people are turning to nutritional means of treating disease.

Unfortunately, most medical schools shy away from teaching and practicing non-pharmacological means of dealing with diseases. The sad outcome is that only nutritionists, exercise physiologists, and other non-medical allied health professionals practice primary prevention of diseases.

People, in general, are now realizing that proper nutrition could lead to better health outcomes, not only for patients, but also could improve the quality of health of communities, and of society at large. There are many advantages such as cost saving, easily available resources, and independence from medical insurance. Many communities and hospitals are engaging in food and lifestyle modulation practices to the benefit of their patients and communities. However, nutrition is still in its infancy and often misunderstood. People are confused about daily recommendations and often contradictory claims of what amounts to good and bad nutrition.

This proposed section is geared to put nutrition health in perspective and provide guidelines for patients, communities and the general public to help them understand and follow nutritional guidelines that might be appropriate for them.