"Every individual organism that has a distinctive genetic background has distinctive nutritional needs which must be met for optimal well-being." 

Professor Emeritus Roger J. Williams of University of Texas at Austin, 1956

"Nutritional Medicine" describes the clinical application of diet modifications and nutritional supplements to treat human disease.  With recognition of the patient's health condition and biochemical individuality, the diet modifications and nutritional program are tailored to the exact needs of the individual person.  The nutritional supplements utilized may include vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids and oils, and other naturally-derived supplements.  When administered under the supervision of a highly-trained doctor, the use of nutritional medicine is both safe and effective.  

As you can see from the chart below, a licensed Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine (N.D.) receives much more education about nutrition than does a registered dietitian (R.D.).

Naturopathic Medical Education

Nutrition and Lifestyle Modification

A healthy diet must always be the foundation for any nutrition plan.  Supplements are only used to "supplement" (not substitute) a healthy diet and to help individuals meet specific needs of their bodies, which are based on environmental or genetic factors.

"Let your food be your medicine, and let your medicine be your food."

Hypocrites, "The Father of Medicine"

Patients treated successfully with nutritional therapy include those with a wide range of diseases and health conditions--from eczema to acne, from dermatitis to depression, from arthritis to colitis...   Let us now look at a few examples: 

Diet therapy to treat high cholesterol and reduce the risk of colon cancer: Many Americans have high cholesterol levels in the blood, and a high level of blood cholesterol is a recognized risk factor for heart attack and stroke.  The vast majority of these patients are advised by their medical doctors to take cholesterol-lowering drugs.  Some of these cholesterol-lowering drugs cause cancer in animals, but this effect has not been consistently seen in human studies.  These chemical drugs are often expensive and may produce life-threatening side effects in some patients.  The nutritional medicine approach would be to use dietary modifications and supplements to reduce the amount of cholesterol to a lower and therefore safer level.  For example, instead of using synthetic medications for the treatment of high cholesterol, a nutritionally-oriented physician might suggest the use of a diet low in saturated fats, perhaps used with a diet that contains oat bran, which has been shown to help lower cholesterol levels.  When these dietary interventions are employed to lower the cholesterol to a safer level, such treatment is often safer and less expensive than the use of medications, and it may additionally provide health benefits such as a reduction in the risk of colon cancer when wheat bran is used. 

Treating carpal tunnel syndrome with vitamin B-6: The use of vitamin B-6 for carpal tunnel syndrome is well-known among all nutritionally-oriented physicians.  The treatment is often quite successful, even though in some cases the treatment may not work when used without other nutritional and ergonomic interventions; chiropractic treatment can also be used to treat carpal tunnel syndrome.  An additional consideration with the use of vitamin B-6 in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome is that extremely high doses of vitamin B-6 can actually cause nerve damage if used for a prolonged period of time; recognition of this fact should not discourage the use of vitamin B-6 in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, but rather it suggests that the treatment should be prescribed in a manner that is safe and effective by a knowledgeable physician who is aware of the proper use and application of nutritional therapies.

Lysine for the treatment of herpes infections: Another very popular application of nutritional medicine with which most people are familiar is the use of the amino acid lysine for the treatment of herpes, a recurrent and painful viral infection that many people have around their mouths.  Lysine is indeed effective for the treatment of herpes in many people.  For people who want additional help-- beyond the use of lysine--for the treatment of herpes, other nutritional and botanical treatments are available.

 

These are only a few rather modest examples of the power of nutritional medicine.  

Two of my primary interests are the related conditions autism and PDD (pervasive developmental disorder)--I have witnessed the power of nutritional medicine in the treatment of children with these conditions.  

I have also seen many adults achieve greatly improved health when a program including nutritional medicine is designed to treat their diabetes, joint pain, intestinal problems, fatigue or other condition.  

Essentially all health problems--from depression to cancer to pain to inflammatory conditions--involve a nutritional component that can be modified to help improve the health and function of the patient.