Family physicians and patients: is effective nutrition interaction possible?

This article summarizes presentations from an international workshop held in Heelsum, Netherlands, 14-16 December 1998 that was sponsored by the Dutch Dairy Foundation on Nutrition and Health, the Department of Nutrition at Wageningen Agricultural University, the Dutch College of General Practitioners, and the International Union of Nutritional Sciences. Twenty-one speakers and 12 other participants were invited from 9 countries: the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Spain, and Sweden. The workshop was chaired by GJAJ Hautvast and the scientific secretary was GJ Hiddink. Family physicians are highly trusted. Many consultations include a nutritional aspect, but physicians do not discuss nutrition with their patients as often as they could. Major barriers include short visit times, the paucity of nutrition teaching in medical schools, and poor compliance of patients with physicians' dietary prescriptions. Problems, practicalities, operational research, and some solutions were discussed at this meeting of leading family doctors with interested nutritionists. Family physicians have to distill the essentials for their patients from many different specialties ranging from ophthalmology to podiatry. They look for clarity of recommendations from nutrition researchers. Among developments discussed at the meeting that can increase nutritional work in family medicine are 1) new opportunities to teach nutrition in vocational training programs, 2) some manuals and a new journal specially written by nutritional scientists for family physicians, 3) nutritional advice being incorporated into computer software for family physicians, 4) more dietitians working with family physicians, and 5) nutrition training for practice nurses in some countries.