Nutrition--sense and nonsense

Most physicians know far more about nutrition than they are given credit for. We know there is no such thing as a nutritionally perfect food. We know that variety in foods consumed is the key to good nutrition. We know that good nutrition is an important part of convalescence. We know that obesity in the presence of other risk factors is an added hazard. We know that fortified convenience foods contribute to good health and make life easier for those who prepare meals. We know that the woods are full of food faddists, nutritional charlatans, and peddlers of nutritional nostrums, whose scare tactics and sensationalism often sway the uninformed. Where many of us err is simply in not thinking about nutrition, in not asking our patients about what they eat, and in not counseling them on better nutrition. Thus, I urge you to think nutrition when you think about the health of your patients and yourself, to utilize the services of dietitians and nutritionists, and to speak out clearly and forcefully, but without malice, to combat nutritional and other health nonsense.