Warning: Beware of Nutrition Quackery
At the recent fall meeting of the California Dental Association Scientific Session, Dr. Karp warned of nutrition quackery. He spoke about how a presenter supported and promoted nutritional supplements to help their dental patients. He emphasized that Americans are not under-nourished, but over-nourished. He made mention that people in the U.S. do not die from vitamin and other antioxidant deficiencies, but from strokes and heart attacks. That instead of recommending supplements, dentists should be telling their patients to eat less fat, sugar, and calories, and to become more active.
Dentists should be listening to their patients more, instead of lecturing their patients on what they should eat or take. He suggested that, if someone is a diabetic, they should most-likely be on a “diabetic diet.” This is identical to the diet of the Surgeon General and the American Heart Association. There are some excellent diets out there that are not gimmicks. Advise your patients where to go to get this dietary information, or better yet, have it printed out for them. If patients ask about certain supplements, or something they have seen online or in the newspaper, or magazine, “help them to prioritize.” He also emphasized that patients should be getting their nutrients from the foods that they consume, and not pills or capsules. He also mentioned that he would not spend more money for organic foods, as he felt there is no nutritive value differences between those foods and inorganic. He mentioned too, that he did not want to know about the physical exploits of his chicken before he ate it, saying that “free-range” had no meaning to him.
So, follow some small dietary changes and get more exercise. Don’t make very drastic changes immediately or you may get discouraged.
