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