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Alternative Nutrition
Darwin Deen, Jr. MD, MS
What is Alternative Nutrition?
Alternative vs.
ComplementaryMedicines
Alternative Healing Paradigms
Traditional Chinese Medicine Homeopathy Acupuncture
Ayurvedic Medicine Crystal Therapy Aroma Therapy
Chiropractic
Complementary Healing
Herbal Medicine Chiropractic Acupuncture Meditation
Visualization Hypnosis
Massage Therapy
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism is probably the most widely practiced “alternative” dietary regimen.
Vegans follow a diet composed of vegetables & grains only. Lactovegetarians add dairy products to their diets
Lactoovovegetarians also eat eggs. Macrobiotic diets add some fish but restrict vegetables to
locally grown, seasonal foods.
Ayurveda:
An ancient healing system from India where various physical properties of foods [taste, heat production, etc.] are used preventively or therapeutically based
on impact on disease symptoms [tridosha-kapha (mucous), pitta (fire), Vata (wind)]
Fad Diets:
Food Complementing (Fit for Life by Diamonds) Fasting Juicing
Pritkin Diet Ornish Diet
Paleolithic Diet Eat Right 4 Your Type (Blood Type Diet)
Atkins Diet
Vitamin therapy:
Megavitamins: use of vitamins in doses higher than RDA for therapy or prevention (nutrients as
pharmaceuticals). Vit C, Vit E, Chromium, etc.
Intravenous Vitamins Chelation Therapy
Orthomolecular Psychiatry: use of nutrients to treat psychiatric illness.
Food Allergies/ Intolerance:
Typical IgE mediated food allergies are recognized by all physicians. Some food intolerances (e.g.
lactase deficiency) are very common. Some alternative practitioners blame many disease states such as arthritis and irritable bowel syndrome on
food allergies/intolerances.
Alternative Nutrition may be part of a system of alternative medicine (e.g. Traditional Chinese
Medicine), but most people interested in alternative nutrition are not following a specific different
healing paradigm.
Naturopathy is another system of natural healing. Practitioners trained in this system use herbal
remedies and avoid drugs. They train toward an ND degree. Some people consider the therapeutic use of
herbs part of alternative nutrition.
Why is Alternative Nutritionimportant to physicians?
We need to know what type of diet our patients are following and any potential risks and benefits.
Where to find AN information
AHMA: American Holistic Medical Association
PCRM: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Journal of Natural Medicine
Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry
International Journal of Vitamins and Nutrition Research
Journal of Applied Nutrition
Today’s quackery may betomorrow’s orthodoxy:
Cholesterol and saturated fat was once considered a fringe hypothesis as was homocysteine
Reversibility of atheroscerotic plaques was doubted until demonstrated by Dean Ornish
Impact of very low fat and vegan dietsAnti-oxidant nutrients
Folate’s role in cervical and lung cancer (prevention of Neural Tube defects is now well established)
Beta carotene for lung cancer
What’s on the horizon now?
Chromium for diabetes B6 for neuropathy
Low fat diets for breast and colon cancer prevention Rational use of anti-oxidants
(grape seed extract, etc.)
Problems:
Scientific evidence is often lacking (shark cartilage) Finding are misrepresented (chromium and body
composition) No regulation
“Health” as a model vs. disease “Optimal Nutrition” as a concept “If a little is good more is better”
Orthodox View Alternative View
The American food
supply is the safest, most
abundant, healthiest in
the world
Our diets are loaded with
overly processed foods,
grown in soil that is
artificially fertilized, and
therefore does not have
adequate levels of nutrients
for our health. Food
processing further reduces
the nutrients available to us.
Orthodox View Alternative View
We get all the nutrients
we need by eating a varied diet including foods from each of the food groups.
Because of the above
issues, we need to
supplement
our diet with vitamins.
Orthodox View Alternative View
A typical American diet
will meet all of the
nutrient needs
for all but the
sickest people.
Biochemicalindividuality means that
variability regardingnutrient requirements is
so great that manyindividuals have nochance to meet their
needs withoutsupplements (some at
very high doses.
Orthodox View Alternative View
There is one basic
healthy diet that applies
to all individuals.
Each of us has unique
nutrient needs and we
must determine for
ourselves what the
best diet is.
Concepts utilized by alternativenutrition practitioners:
1. Adequate vs. Optimal nutritional intake: what is the definition of health? Absence of disease or
something else?
2. Biochemical individuality: Roger Williams, PhD: myth or reality, how significant
3. Misuse of the RDA (DRI, USRDA, etc.)
4. Soil Depletion due to modern agricultural methods.
Concepts utilized by alternativenutrition practitioners:
5. Toxin exposure through the food chain6. Poor dietary intake is common: Ten State Nutrition
Survey and NHANES I, II, III7. “Empty” calories: 40% of our calories come from fat and
25% from sugar. Neither of these contains adequate levels of the vitamins required for their metabolism.
8. Conditional or marginal vitamin deficiency (not classical deficiency: scurvy, beri beri, pellagra)
Concepts utilized by alternativenutrition practitioners:
9. Mineral metabolism: bell shaped curve from deficiency -> safety -> toxicity: at the low end is death due to prolonged severe deficiency -> marginal deficiency with functional implications -> marginal deficiency without functional
implications -> normal -> marginal excess with no functional toxicity, -> marginal excess with functional
toxicity -> death due to poisoning. E.g. excess Cr and Zn will increase the peripheral conversion of T4 to T3.
Concepts utilized by alternativenutrition practitioners:
10. Foods require fortification: I in salt, Vit D in milk, Fe & B Vits in flour, folate, etc.
11. Food combining: certain nutrients when consumed together interfere with proper digestion and
absorption. e.g. phytates bind Ca, high fiber diets predispose to Zn deficiency. Some believe that carbohydrates interfere with protein digestion.
Factors contributing to marginalvitamin deficiencies:
1. Smoking or excess alcohol intake
2. Prescription, over-the-counter, or recreational drug use
3. Pregnancy and lactation
4. Excess energy expenditure (including work or exercise)
5. Extreme environments (cold or hot)
Factors contributing to marginalvitamin deficiencies:
6. Wounds, burns, post-traumatic stress
7. Psychosocial distress
8. Unique biochemical requirements (individual variations)
9. Environmental factors: radiation, photochemical, smog, lack of sunlight
10. Empty calorie diets
People Important to the Historyof Alternative Nutrition
Robert Atkins
Jeffrey Bland
Adelle Davis
Kurt Donsbach
Abraham Hoffer
W.W.Kellogg
JethroKoss
Michio Kushi
Linus Pauling
Robert Rodale
Albert StGeorgi
Roger Williams
Carlton Fredricks
Richard Passwater
AlanGaby