Courtesy of Fiona Willis
At our recent conference Food. the forgotten Medicine, we unveiled a draft consensus statement on food, and invited attendees to give their views on its contents. We are now pleased to publish the statement below. In the attached presentation, you can see the degree of agreement attendees felt with each statement.
Consensus statement on food
1.Nutrition is a fundamental element of good health.
2.Dietary changes are potent interventions in both prevention and treatment.
3.Such interventions were often cheaper and safer than other interventions.
4.There is a high degree of consensus among nutrition researchers about the main elements of an optimum diet and how to prepare and enjoy food that is good for you: A variety of whole foods, mostly plants and especially vegetables.
5.Encouraging healthy eating and good nutrition leads itself to a patient centered self-care model.
6.The public is looking for guidance from clinicians to make wise, evidence-based and safe choices.
7.Cultural diversity and influence from different national cuisines is needed to ensure that diets are tailored to different cultural and physiological needs.
8.Healthcare professionals have insufficient training and knowledge about nutrition and this now needs to be urgently addressed so that they can advise people well about using “food as medicine”.
