Why Don't Doctors Know More About Nutrition?

Most physicians in the United States have little training in nutrition. It is no surprise that these doctors, educated almost exclusively in western medical techniques, are not familiar with the numerous medical studies that support proper nutrition and supplementation as a means to optimal health. This topic is often viewed as "alte
ative medicine" and outside the normal scope of their practice. Our natural respect for doctors coupled with their many years of education, lead many to believe that they are experts on all health related issues, including nutrition and supplementation.

So this begs the question - why is it that doctors receive so little education in this important area? The famous quote "follow the almighty dollar and it will lead you to the answer" may be at the center of this issue. It is alleged that the moneyed foundations that control the largest drug manufacturing companies, gift substantial donations to medical colleges and public agencies. These colleges in turn teach their students, our future doctors, what the pharmaceutical companies want taught - drug therapy and surgical techniques.

Our doctors, therefore, come from a place where prescribing drugs and performing surgery is the norm. This is what they have been taught and this is what they feel most comfortable practicing. Doctors are bogged down with heavy patient loads, hospital visits and a constant barrage of new medical literature as more and more new drugs are put on the market - the same drugs that you and I see on the television every night. Most doctors are simply too busy treating disease to find the additional time to educate themselves and their patients about healthy lifestyles and the supplements that help them to remain healthy.

This is unfortunate because there are numerous studies that support the successes obtained from healthy lifestyles combined with supplementation as a means of preventing degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis and obesity. One such article was published by two Harvard University researchers, Robert H. Fletcher, MD, MSc and Kathleen M. Fairchild, MD, DrPH entitled "Vitamins for Chronic Disease Prevention in Adults". Through their research and 38 years of scientific evidence, these authors concluded that the current North American diet, while sufficient to prevent vitamin deficiency diseases such as scurvy, night blindness and rickets, is inadequate to support optimal health, particularly the elderly, and that insufficient vitamin intake is a cause of chronic disease.

Proper nutrition, exercise and supplementation can become the cornerstone to optimal health.

Chronic disease is not our destiny. We need to educate ourselves and live healthy lives, with proper diet, exercise and supplementation and we need to spread the word that this is possible. Tell at least one person that you love about these studies and do some homework to learn more. Knowledge, after all, is power.