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When will the medical community take nutrition science seriously? Why don't medical students take courses in diet and nutrition? There is so much evidence that

When will the medical community take nutrition science seriously? Why don't medical students take courses in diet and nutrition? There is so much evidence that Alzheimer's is closely linked to lifestyle (specifically diet) and the same lifestyle changes that can stop/reverse Type II diabetes like a ketogenic diet + intermittent fasting is likely highly effective in reducing onset of Alzheimers in old age.

bluejellybean 8y ago
Medical students and nurses do take diet and nutrition courses. I'm in a prereq nutrition class right now...
- dawhizkid 8y ago
  And yet the first answer to type II diabetes is insulin therapy and other drugs and not "immediately stop eating sugar and refined carbs"
  - Herodotus38 8y ago
    Actually the first answer to type II is usually metformin, unless you present initially with pretty advanced disease.
  - cfadvan 8y ago
    What makes you believe that you won’t be presented with drug therapy as well as dietary advice?
  - mrestko 8y ago
    No it isn't. The Practice Guidelines from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists are summarized in this PowerPoint presentation from their website.[1] It is not intended for lay consumption, but you can clearly see that there is a large emphasis on diet changes and weight loss. However, as I mentioned in another comment, the reality in practice is that many people are either unwilling or unable to change their lifestyle sufficiently to reverse the condition. Even before being diagnosed with a disease there are huge returns to regularly exercising and staying fit. You feel better, look better, have more energy, sleep better, the list continues. A doctor saying, "you need to lose weight and exercise, it could help with your diabetes," is a relatively small motivator compared with all of the other benefits. 1. https://www.aace.com/files/aace_algorithm_slides.pptx https://www.aace.com/files/aace_algorithm_slides.pptx
- shlant 8y ago
  it's too bad that the level of nutritional education taught is laughable https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/doctors-nutrition-education/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/doctors-n...
steego 8y ago
Care to share the papers you found to be the most compelling?
- shadykiller 8y ago
  This paper mentions many neuroprotective benefits of ketogenic diet - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/
mrestko 8y ago
Current medical student here. We do learn about these things but a) the science is weaker than many areas of medicine because it is much harder to do randomized controlled trials of diet and b) patients will barely take a pill once a day for their blood pressure, much less entirely change their lifestyle.
EamonnMR 8y ago
The medical community seems to take nutrition extremely seriously, but they know that they'll never be able to convince people to change what they eat.

bluejellybean 8y ago

Medical students and nurses do take diet and nutrition courses. I'm in a prereq nutrition class right now...

dawhizkid 8y ago
And yet the first answer to type II diabetes is insulin therapy and other drugs and not "immediately stop eating sugar and refined carbs"
- Herodotus38 8y ago
  Actually the first answer to type II is usually metformin, unless you present initially with pretty advanced disease.
- cfadvan 8y ago
  What makes you believe that you won’t be presented with drug therapy as well as dietary advice?
- mrestko 8y ago
  No it isn't. The Practice Guidelines from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists are summarized in this PowerPoint presentation from their website.[1] It is not intended for lay consumption, but you can clearly see that there is a large emphasis on diet changes and weight loss. However, as I mentioned in another comment, the reality in practice is that many people are either unwilling or unable to change their lifestyle sufficiently to reverse the condition. Even before being diagnosed with a disease there are huge returns to regularly exercising and staying fit. You feel better, look better, have more energy, sleep better, the list continues. A doctor saying, "you need to lose weight and exercise, it could help with your diabetes," is a relatively small motivator compared with all of the other benefits. 1. https://www.aace.com/files/aace_algorithm_slides.pptx https://www.aace.com/files/aace_algorithm_slides.pptx
shlant 8y ago
it's too bad that the level of nutritional education taught is laughable https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/doctors-nutrition-education/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/doctors-n...

steego 8y ago

Care to share the papers you found to be the most compelling?

shadykiller 8y ago
This paper mentions many neuroprotective benefits of ketogenic diet - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/

mrestko 8y ago

Current medical student here. We do learn about these things but a) the science is weaker than many areas of medicine because it is much harder to do randomized controlled trials of diet and b) patients will barely take a pill once a day for their blood pressure, much less entirely change their lifestyle.

EamonnMR 8y ago

The medical community seems to take nutrition extremely seriously, but they know that they'll never be able to convince people to change what they eat.