Our studies at Harvard suggest that the average physician knows a little more about nutrition than the average secretary--unless the secretary has a weight problem. Then she probably knows more than the average physician.

--Jean Mayer (1920-93), nutrition expert and president of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts (1976-92)

Authors of health books usually qualify their advice by suggesting that readers check with their physicians before making any dietary changes to improve their health. I can't in good conscience make that recommendation.

Unfortunately, although many physicians consider themselves experts on nutrition, surprisingly (and disappointingly) few are actually knowledgeable about the subject. That's because most are never taught. Of the 125 medical schools in the United States, only 30 have required coursework in nutrition. And that coursework is mighty short: The average medical student receives just 2½ hours of training in nutrition over four years.

Clearly, this isn't enough time to cultivate a thorough understanding of the relationship between nutrition and health. As a result, physicians often disregard diet and supplementation as effective means of treating and preventing disease--especially heart disease and cancer, the number one and number two killers of our time.

Suspicions about Nutrition

As I explained in chapter 20, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic degenerative conditions get their start years before they show outward symptoms. These conditions progress silently, as poor nutrition erodes cellular protection, repair, and replacement--the very foundation of Renewal.

This process confounds traditionally educated doctors, who are taught to think in terms of demonstrable pathology. In other words, they rely on physical exams, laboratory tests, x-rays, and other diagnostic procedures to confirm the presence of disease. If there is no pathology, there is no disease.

Within this framework, "health" means merely the absence of illness. It doesn't recognize the broader spectrum of wellness, a continuum that ranges from severe sickness at one end to optimum health at the other.

Such a narrow definition of health has spawned an all-or-nothing mindset in the diagnosis of disease. A patient who does not exhibit symptoms of scurvy, for example, can't possibly have a deficiency of vitamin C. A patient with no symptoms of pellagra obviously has no niacin problem. And if a patient has no symptoms of beriberi, his thiamin level must be okay.

This approach to diagnosis does not take into consideration suboptimum nutrition, which has reached epidemic proportions in this country. Nor does it acknowledge widespread subclinical (present but not yet clinically detectable) malnutrition, which will eventually contribute to the deaths of 80 percent of all Americans.

Perhaps you've been fortunate enough to find a doctor who truly understands the importance of optimum nutrition and who dispenses meaningful advice on diet and supplements. Sadly, such practitioners are a rare breed. Less informed physicians often greet questions about nutrition with inaccurate, knee-jerk responses like "You don't need supplements" or "Eat a well-balanced diet, and you'll get all the nutrients you need." Such statements might carry more weight if these physicians outlived their patients, which, on average, they don't.

Leaving the Mainstream

While nutritional therapy is slowly gaining acceptance, it is still viewed as alternative medicine by the mainstream medical community. Like acupuncture, herbal therapy, homeopathy, and other alternative modalities, nutritional therapy emphasizes wellness and prevention of disease rather than the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Mainstream medicine, for all of its science, has yet to come to terms with the concept of wellness, much less with the techniques that encourage it.

To illustrate how mainstream medicine and alternative medicine approach health and healing differently, let's consider a symptom that is frequently reported by my patients: chronic or recurrent fatigue. A traditionally educated doctor may order "the works"--a physical exam, laboratory tests, and x-rays. All of the results come back negative. Since the doctor has no objective evidence of pathology, or an abnormality, he concludes that no disease exists.

A holistically trained doctor, on the other hand, believes that fatigue can result from a multitude of factors rather than just one. He, too, does a physical exam--but he also scrutinizes the patient's family medical history, diet, lifestyle, and behavior patterns. Based on his findings, this doctor may conclude that the patient's fatigue is caused by suboptimum functioning of one or more organs or systems. In other words, something inside the patient's body is out of balance--something that wouldn't show up during a traditional diagnostic workup but that would produce vague symptoms such as fatigue. Correcting the underlying imbalance should restore the patient's energy and vigor.

Of course, the true test of a diagnosis is the patient's response to treatment. In this case, a holistic doctor would likely prescribe a combination of dietary changes, supplements, exercise, herbs, homeopathic remedies, and acupuncture. All of these strategies are directed toward healing the faltering organ or system while supporting recuperation and enhancing overall health.

Atherosclerosis: Diet Makes a Difference

In the example above, let's suppose that conventional diagnostic techniques do uncover evidence of disease. A traditionally educated doctor, lacking adequate training in nutrition, would likely recommend treatment with drugs or perhaps even surgery. He would probably not suggest nutritional measures to heal the body, save for the standard admonition to "eat a low-fat diet."

Consider atherosclerosis, a condition characterized by gradual hardening and clogging of the arteries. Traditionally educated doctors are seldom aware of all of the nutritional excesses and deficiencies that precede, sometimes by several decades, heart attack and stroke. Yet research has shown that the arterial degeneration responsible for these events is almost exclusively caused by dietary factors.

The conventional treatment for atherosclerosis consists of cholesterol-lowering drugs and possibly a low-fat diet. By conventional standards, a "low-fat diet" gets 30 percent of its calories from fat and includes, of all things, chicken and fish. Yet research by Dean Ornish, M.D.; Nathan Pritikin; John McDougall, M.D.; and other nutrition-minded experts has shown that a truly low-fat, vegetarian diet--one that derives just 10 percent of its calories from fat--can reverse as well as prevent atherosclerosis. What's more, thousands of published studies support the value of broad-spectrum supplementation in treating the disease.

Nutrition-conscious doctors prescribe customized, comprehensive self-care programs for their patients with atherosclerosis. They routinely recommend cutting fat intake to 10 percent of calories and eliminating saturated fat, cholesterol, and hydrogenated vegetable oils. They advocate eating lots of oats, beans, onions, garlic, and other foods known to benefit hardened, clogged arteries. And they're likely to prescribe supplementation of an array of heart-friendly essential nutrients--including folic acid, vitamin E, calcium, coenzyme Q₁₀, chromium, copper, essential fatty acids, magnesium, niacin, pantothenic acid, potassium, selenium, vitamin B₆, vitamin C, and zinc--at Optimum Daily Allowance levels. A program like this can slow and even reverse the progression of atherosclerosis and dramatically reduce a patient's risk of heart attack and stroke.

Hospital Food: Sustenance or Subsistence?

Even if a disease has progressed to the point where only surgery can help, optimum nutrition is key to the recovery process. Surprisingly, the meals served to postoperative patients, even in some of the nation's most highly regarded teaching hospitals, supply grossly inadequate amounts of the nutrients most essential to healing.

As an example, consider the case of Art Voll, an advertising executive in his fifties. When Art developed chest pain, his doctor sent him for an angiogram. The test results showed that Art's coronary arteries had narrowed. The doctor recommended coronary bypass surgery. But Art, not one to stand on the sidelines and let others make crucial decisions, began reading all that he could about his condition. This man who had never paid much attention to his diet (or to exercise, for that matter) suddenly became nutritionally enlightened. Unfortunately, the realization that his heart problems had resulted from consuming too much fat, sugar, and alcohol came too late for Art to avoid surgery.

When Art saw his first postoperative meal, he could hardly believe his eyes: chicken (high in fat, pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones), canned peas (depleted of B vitamins during processing and cooking), mashed potatoes with butter, white bread (depleted of B vitamins, minerals, and fiber) with more butter, gelatin (high in sugar but devoid of essential nutrients), and coffee--cream optional. Amazingly, this is typical hospital fare.

Thanks to what he had read prior to surgery, Art knew that eating meals like the one he had been served could produce a coronary blockage, which is what landed him in the hospital in the first place. So he left, discharging himself against medical advice. He figured he'd be better off at home, where he could control his diet.

Art can count himself among the fortunate ones. Studies have shown that most hospital patients are undernourished. And when they're undernourished, they recover more slowly, have a higher incidence of residual disease, are more prone to relapse, and generally have poorer prognoses.

Every hospital patient can benefit from health-supporting meals of fresh, whole foods as well as a broad-spectrum multivitamin/mineral supplement. Other supplements can be prescribed based on the person's specific nutritional requirements. For example, heart patients like Art need extra carotenoids, chromium, coenzyme Q₁₀, essential fatty acids, magnesium, phytochemicals, potassium, vitamin C, and vitamin E. Patients with infections need extra vitamin A, B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, and zinc. Postoperative patients need extra calcium, magnesium, B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, and zinc.

Unfortunately, until more doctors become more knowledgeable about nutrition, the dismal state of the hospital diet probably won't change. Nor will patients receive the supplements that are so vital to their recovery.

Putting Things in Perspective

Nothing I've said here is meant to diminish the value of mainstream medicine. As a doctor who has studied both Western and Eastern medical traditions, I wholeheartedly believe that the two can--and should--coexist. Frankly, when it comes to evaluating and managing serious illness and injury, mainstream medicine has no peer.

If I'm ever hurt in an automobile accident, I want to be taken to the nearest trauma center. If I develop a malignant tumor, I want to be treated by a cancer surgeon. If I'm diagnosed with diabetes, I want to be under the care of an endocrinologist.

These physicians specialize in managing illness and injury, which is exactly what I want if I'm seriously sick or hurt. Out of necessity, they do not focus on promoting health. If I'm searching for a holistic approach to health that shows me how to prevent disease and how to heal myself using nutrition and other natural medicines, however, then an alternative doctor is often the better choice.

One final word: If your doctor seems evasive or uninformed on the subject of nutrition, you may want to consider shopping around for someone new. It takes time, but in terms of your health, it's worth the effort.

*

You now know why supplementation is so important to achieving optimum health and maximum life span. With that in mind, let's get into the details of the Renewal Anti-Aging Supplement Program. The next section of the book lays it all out for you.