There is a practical reason why many people turn to naturopaths,
such as those trained by Bastyr University -- a research-based naturopathic university here in Washington -- or other "alternative" providers.
Under our largely organ-based system of medicine, most medical doctors have very little training in nutrition – in general and for specific conditions -- and people correctly understand that our bodies are made out of what we eat and drink. This isn’t “woo.” It’s a fact.
If people can’t get nutrition information and support from their M.D.s, they look elsewhere.
So the medical establishment has itself to blame.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/health/16chen.html
Years later, as a newly minted doctor on the wards seeing real patients, I found myself in the same position. I was still getting a lot of questions about food and diet. And I was still hesitating when answering. I wasn’t sure I knew that much more after medical school than I did before.
One day I mentioned this uncomfortable situation to another young doctor. “Just consult the dietitians if you have a problem,” she said after listening to my confession. “They’ll take care of it.” She paused for a moment, looked suspiciously around the nursing station, then leaned over and whispered, “I know we’re supposed to know about nutrition and diet, but none of us really does.”
She was right. And nearly 20 years later, she may still be.
Research has increasingly pointed to a link between the nutritional status of Americans and the chronic diseases that plague them. Between the growing list of diet-related diseases and a burgeoning obesity epidemic, the most important public health measure for any of us to take may well be watching what we eat.
SNIP
Added Dr. Chauncey: “You can’t just keep writing out script after script after script of new medications when diet is just as important as drugs or any other treatment a patient may be using."
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/83/4/941S.full
By either criterion, less than one-half of the surveyed medical schools (41%) provided the minimum of 25 h of medical nutrition education; compared with the later recommendations of 37–44 h, the percentage of schools meeting the recommendation falls below 20%. This means that roughly 60–80% of schools are teaching far less nutrition than is recommended. In addition, nutrition education typically occurs during the first 2 y of medical school when the basic sciences are being emphasized; nutrition does not appear to get much emphasis during the clinical years when nutrition concepts and skills could be applied more directly to clinical problem-solving. Because the number of schools requiring a nutrition course (32 versus 34) and the overall number of hours of nutrition teaching (23.9 versus 21) has changed little over the past 2 decades, it is not surprising that most medical students continue to assess the time devoted to nutrition as inadequate. From our surveys, it seems that instructors are even more dissatisfied with the hours of nutrition in the curriculum than medical students are. Thus, it appears that we are producing a pool of physicians who feel largely unprepared to counsel their patients about nutrition (6, 10–12) and to make appropriate clinical decisions on nutrition-related issues. Surveys in the literature show that practicing physicians feel inappropriately prepared to address the growing problem of obesity, particularly in children (13, 14). With the rising epidemic of obesity in the US population and the knowledge that prevention is more likely to be successful than treatment, it is clearly imperative to ensure that medical students are adequately prepared.
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/03/18/long.neglected.nutritional.training.doctors.all.levels.needed.now
The profession must take advantage of changes in medical education to ensure that all health professionals, but especially gut specialists, are given adequate training in nutrition, urge Dr Penny Nield and colleagues, in the launch issue of Frontline Gastroenterology,* the new quarterly companion journal to Gut. Despite its importance to every area of clinical practice - and not just gastroenterology - and a range of policy documents advocating a solid grounding in nutrition dating back several years, it is an area that has "long been notoriously patchy at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels," say the authors from St George's Hospital, London.
Technological advances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and the emphasis on measurable outcomes have conspired to create "organ specific evidence based medicine" within which "the study, education, and treatment of nutrition in health and disease do not sit comfortably," they write.
The evidence shows that healthcare professionals in general know little about how to assess and manage poor nutrition, and gastroenterologists in particular need to be able to provide advice and expertise in general nutrition, artificial nutrition support, and intestinal failure, they argue.
= new reply since forum marked as read
You had me at:
Under our largely organ-based system of medicine, most medical doctors have very little training in nutrition – in general and for specific conditions -- and people correctly understand that our bodies are made out of what we eat and drink. This isn’t “woo.” It’s a fact.
I have a chronic autoimmune disease, and supposedly there is no cure. Now while I have to take the allopathic meds to keep it in quasi-remission, I still do an awful lot of stuff to better my condition "on my own"
I have asked to see a nutritionist but it's not covered...have asked to see a physical therapist...not covered. Help with other treatments known to alleviate symptoms (UV), asked if I could pay up front and get reimbursed, not covered.
So this leaves me to my own devices. I have taken the nutrition classes, use my books, see alternative persons (thank goodness most are friends and we can work out trades for visits).
One thing that I wholeheartedly KNOW is that we are organisms, not organ systems...and we have to take that into account and work on health from ALL angles. Nutrition is the HARDEST battle to master, because most of us are so screwed up by our lifetimes of processed foods our ability to know what's normal is skewed.
Not to mention it's personally harder to be "good" when the bad stuff is everywhere and is easier to get a hold of...
anyway, just my 2 cents, fwiw
And along the way learned a lot about auto-immune diseases.
I hope you continue to get the help you need.
