Nutrition in Clinical Medicine: Safe and Effective

Dietary approaches are often remarkably effective. The cholesterol–lowering power of the diets used by Drs. Ornish, Esselstyn, and Jenkins rivals that of typical cholesterol–lowering medications. Such diets also improve blood glucose control better than any oral diabetes drug.⁶ For migraines or arthritis, not everyone improves with dietary adjustments that eliminate common dietary triggers, but many do; in controlled clinical trials, sometimes simple diet changes bring dramatic improvements. 

Unlike medications, the side effects of healthful diet changes are all good ones. People who adjust the menu in hopes of reducing their cholesterol get the bonus of losing unwanted weight. Their blood pressure drifts downward as well. If they have diabetes, it comes under better control, and they may be able to reduce their need for medication.

While many still think of medications as “conventional medicine” and dietary changes as “alternative therapies,” a growing number of clinicians would turn the definitions around. For many conditions, attention to diet and lifestyle is the foundation of good clinical care. Medications, surgery, or other treatments should be used when diet and lifestyle changes do not apply or are not, by themselves, sufficient for the task at hand.

New clinicians come to find that problems they had once regarded as strictly medical, or perhaps even genetic–diabetes and coronary disease, for example–have major nutritional antecedents. As time goes on, they start to see nutritional problems everywhere. The role of nutrition is indeed greater than most clinicians and patients realize. At the same time, not all problems have nutritional connections, and medical diagnosis and treatment have as important a role now as ever.

This book summarizes the most effective dietary interventions for common conditions and provides information to help patients and their families make healthful changes. A major trend in research, which is reflected here, is a renewed emphasis on plant–based diets. The vegetarian diets now being offered to heart patients and the vegetable–and–fruit–rich diets advocated for cancer prevention are very different from the diets that are familiar to most patients and doctors. However, many doctors find these diets useful, and many patients will find them lifesaving.

Readers will also find details on dietary factors that have adverse health consequences. There is no shortage of unhealthful foods in everyday life, and they exact a large and growing health toll. It is important to educate patients about these dietary risks.