Biomaterial Database

Integrating Nutrition Education into Clinical Practice. 2019

Helen K Delichatsios, and Anastassios G Pittas

Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, hdelichatsios@mgh.harvard.edu.

The power of physicians to educate patients about nutrition and provide the tools and motivation needed for patients to adopt healthy eating habits is under-utilized. To unleash that power, practicing physicians need to synthesize the latest in nutrition science, integrate it with the established body of evidence on healthy nutrition, and translate and communicate this knowledge to patients in a practical and effective way. Physicians and patients face similar barriers in discussing and incorporating healthy nutrition practices. Tactics and tools that are simple, effective, affordable, and scalable, can be incorporated in clinical practice, thereby making nutrition counseling feasible with only incremental burden to physicians' time and energy. These tactics include: (1) assessing body mass index at every visit, (2) adding obesity or overweight on the problem list, (3) assessing diet, (4) acknowledging risk, (5) being mindful of language, and (6) writing a prescription. Understanding the psychological aspects of food choices and behavioral change, use of technology, and engaging teams are also important. Group visits to address nutrition-related topics are a novel approach to discuss and taste (literally) healthy eating. Finally, physicians' own health and nutrition are powerful predictors of nutrition education to patients and can be a target of intervention as well.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007802	Language	A verbal or nonverbal means of communicating ideas or feelings.	Dialect,Dialects,Languages
D009752	Nutritional Status	State of the body in relation to the consumption and utilization of nutrients.	Nutrition Status,Status, Nutrition,Status, Nutritional
D009765	Obesity	A status with BODY WEIGHT that is grossly above the recommended standards, usually due to accumulation of excess FATS in the body. The standards may vary with age, sex, genetic or cultural background. In the BODY MASS INDEX, a BMI greater than 30.0 kg/m2 is considered obese, and a BMI greater than 40.0 kg/m2 is considered morbidly obese (MORBID OBESITY).
D010818	Practice Patterns, Physicians'	Patterns of practice related to diagnosis and treatment as especially influenced by cost of the service requested and provided.	Clinical Practice Patterns,Physician's Practice Patterns,Clinical Practice Pattern,Pattern, Clinical Practice,Patterns, Clinical Practice,Practice Pattern, Clinical,Practice Patterns, Clinical,Practice Patterns, Physician's,Prescribing Patterns, Physician,Physician Practice Patterns,Physician Prescribing Pattern,Physician Prescribing Patterns,Physician's Practice Pattern,Physicians' Practice Pattern,Physicians' Practice Patterns,Practice Pattern, Physician's,Practice Pattern, Physicians',Practice Patterns, Physician,Prescribing Pattern, Physician
D010819	Physician's Role	The expected function of a member of the medical profession.	Physicians' Role,Physician Role,Physician's Roles,Physicians Role,Physicians' Roles,Role, Physician's,Role, Physicians',Roles, Physician's,Roles, Physicians'
D003376	Counseling	The giving of advice and assistance to individuals with educational or personal problems.
D004032	Diet	Regular course of eating and drinking adopted by a person or animal.	Diets
D005247	Feeding Behavior	Behavioral responses or sequences associated with eating including modes of feeding, rhythmic patterns of eating, and time intervals.	Dietary Habits,Eating Behavior,Faith-based Dietary Restrictions,Feeding Patterns,Feeding-Related Behavior,Food Habits,Diet Habits,Eating Habits,Behavior, Eating,Behavior, Feeding,Behavior, Feeding-Related,Behaviors, Eating,Behaviors, Feeding,Behaviors, Feeding-Related,Diet Habit,Dietary Habit,Dietary Restriction, Faith-based,Dietary Restrictions, Faith-based,Eating Behaviors,Eating Habit,Faith based Dietary Restrictions,Faith-based Dietary Restriction,Feeding Behaviors,Feeding Pattern,Feeding Related Behavior,Feeding-Related Behaviors,Food Habit,Habit, Diet,Habit, Dietary,Habit, Eating,Habit, Food,Habits, Diet,Pattern, Feeding,Patterns, Feeding,Restrictions, Faith-based Dietary
D005518	Food Preferences	The selection of one food over another.	Food Selection,Food Preference,Food Selections,Preference, Food,Preferences, Food,Selection, Food,Selections, Food
D006266	Health Education	Education that increases the awareness and favorably influences the attitudes and knowledge relating to the improvement of health on a personal or community basis.	Community Health Education,Education, Health,Education, Community Health,Health Education, Community