Health Workers

Welcome to a page which I have created for healthcare workers (eg physicians, nurses).

Despite training in Internal Medicine (3 years) , Gastroenterology (4 years), and a Master’s degree in Health Research Methodology I received almost no teaching in the role of diet in disease prevention and treatment.  Everything which you see on this website is based on what I have learned in the last 3 years of self-study.  This has lead me to the conclusion that the healthiest diet is whole-food, plant-based nutrition.  This is supported a recent position statement and paper by the American Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics that ‘vegetarian including vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate … vegans are at reduced risk of ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity.”  Even the American insurance industry has noted the overwhelming evidence in favor of plant-based nutrition as shown in this excellent article by Ken Beckman (an actuary with more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry) with links to some excellent resources.

If you have just had the ‘conventional’ training in healthcare, I would encourage you to follow the pages I have set up for the general public (see the ‘Start Here’ menu tab above).  Interestingly a randomised controlled study clearly showed that physicians who also ‘practiced what they preached’ were better able to help their patients make lifestyle changes.  When added to ‘the best kept secret in medicine‘ (given the right conditions, the body can heal itself) this is a powerful opportunity to experience better health ourselves as well as helping our patients.

To assist you, I have listed below my favorite evidence-based resources in this area:

1. “A Family Physician’s introduction to Lifestyle Medicine” Journal of Family Practice 71(1): Jan/Feb 2022
2. DVD: Forks Over Knives – A great introduction by the author of the most comprehensive study of diet & health ever performed (The China Study)
3. Book: ‘How Not to Die‘ by Dr Greger – superbly reference work which covers the top 15 causes of death in the USA and then reviews the specific health benefits of multiple foods.  Comes with a lovely free app as well.
4. Book: The China Study – the most comprehensive study of diet & health ever performed and implications of this study in terms of diet.
5. Report: Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer: a global perspective AICR May 2018 (downloads  here)
6.  Websites
   1. Nutritionfacts.org – over 1800 videos with references (most 5 minutes or less) about diet and health
   2. Scientific Evidence Page – American College of Lifestyle Medicine – lists the latest meta-analyses and key papers in Heart Disease, Cancer, Stroke, Diabetes, Obesity and other areas.
   3. Plant Based Health Professionals UK – provide information on nutrition & lifestyle interventions for chronic disease.
   4. Plantbasedresearch.org – superb database of studies on diet and disease
   5. Dr McDougall has excellent articles on medical and nutrition topics as well as common health problems and patient success stories.
   6. Greenmedinfo – database of abstracts of food and disease
   7. UC Davis Integrative Medicine – superb articles about food and disease
   8. BeFoodSmart – database of food additives and their risks
   9. PCRM website, newsletter & fact sheets – Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
7. Accredited education
   1. MDs – earn Free CME on nutrition topics from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine here.
   2. MDs & others – obtain a certificate in plant based nutrition from the T Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies here.
   3. MDs & others – 6 module Plant-Based Nutrition: Research and Application in the Medical Practice (US $ 75, ask for a discount if you are a medical student).

The May 2017 edition of the Journal of Geriatric Cardiology has a whole section on ‘A Plant-based Diet and Cardiovascular Disease’ including articles on strategies for practitioners, type 2 diabetes,  and diet in the prevention of chronic disease.

While it might be a bit off topic, one of my colleagues (Dr John Marshall) has an excellent evidence-based summary of indications for different probiotics in Canada – see here.

If you have heard one of my talks and would like to see a list of references, click here.

For some more excellent resources, click here.