Physicians facing the challenge of nutrition

Editorial

Though there is a general consensus that the success of a nutrition policy strongly relies on the improvement in the food environment, this should not lead to abandon any effort to improve consumer awareness, knowledge and understanding of nutrition. The papers in this issue clearly show that this is still a challenge for physicians and especially for General Practioners.

The first two papers present some elements of the diagnosis in two different cultural contexts, USA and France. There are clearly big gaps or mismatches between what should be done and what is done, between what the patients are expecting from their GP and what GP refrain to do! The third paper by Kristen Hicks proposes longterm multilevel solutions for increasing awareness of GPS from their undergraduate studies to the continuing medical education.

In a short-term perspective, these papers provide “foods for thought” to GP, who are now facing the challenge of nutrition. How to move from or to combine a curative and reactive approach in diseased people to or with a more proactive and preventive action for healthy individuals? How not to transform counseling into a normative and intrusive process? In this respect, it is good to consider that any discussion around nutrition may also provide valuable and useful information for the global care of your patient…

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