Held earlier this month the conference, hosted by Dr. Andrew Weil, explored obesity, nutrition regulation and food as medicine. From a nutrition standpoint it included discussions on micro- and macronutrients, antioxidants, phytochemicals, essential fatty acids and food as a 'healing agent' for the body.
" Without an understanding of how specific foods and eating patterns increase or decrease risks of specific diseases, physicians are unprepared to provide nutritional counseling on designing diets for optimal health," said Weil, founder and director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at Arizona university.
Aiming to bridge the gap between health professionals and the food industry - and to further the $900 million functional foods industry - the conference organisers claim the forum gave healthcare people 'answers to their patients' questions with respect to extreme and fad diets, the role of food in health and metabolism, and nutrition recommendations for health promotion and the treatment of a variety of conditions.'
All topics were based on experience, clinical research and the hypothesis that food choices are connected to our health.
"Spectrum is excited to see nutrition education on the forefront of a health-care symposium for medical professionals, » said Neil Blomquist, CEO of Spectrum Organic Products.
Other featured speakers included Marion Nestle, professor and chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University, and David Heber, professor of medicine and founding director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition.
Heart disease kills more people around the world than any other disease, according to the World Health Organisation. According to the WHO, almost one fifth (18 per cent) of global stroke events (mostly nonfatal events) and about 56 per cent of global heart disease are attributable to total cholesterol levels above 3.2 mmol/l. This amounts to about 4.4 million deaths (7.9 per cent of the total) and 2.8 per cent of the global disease burden.
A raft of recent research suggests that introducing heart-healthy foods - plant sterols and dietary fibre for example - into a daily dietary regime could reduce cholesterol, a key component in the development of artherosclerosis, the accumulation of fatty deposits on the inner lining of arteries and reduce the risk of disease.