CONTROL OF DIET-RELATED NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES BY INTEGRATIVE AND FUNCTIONAL NUTRITION: OBESITY, AS A CASE

Medical pluralism is the employment of more than one medical system or the use of both conventional and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for health. People use a variety of health services and practices for their health conditions. Choosing the system for health care is among everybody rights. It seems that the demand for traditional medicine is increasing. Health systems (both, formal or informal) in countries with long history are usually rich of nutrition practices. Food and nutrition matters are among the most common recommendations in almost all medical and healthcare systems. Integrative and Functional Nutrition (IFN) therapy is an approach to patient care that focuses on identifying root causes and imbalances to significantly improve patient health outcomes. In this model the very best of modern science, clinical wisdom and critical thinking are combined. It is crucial that all health advises and practices should be evidence-based. In this presentation, principles of IFN are reviewed. In addition, as a case, the current status of obesity treatment is compared in conventional and non-conventional systems. Obesity was chosen because it is one of the most prevalent public health problems around the world and also because all medical and health systems do have recommendations for controlling the problem.