Doctors seminar discusses evidence-based nutritional treatment for lifestyle diseases in India

Mumbai: The Physicians' Association for Nutrition India (PAN India) in its meeting focussed on the role of Evidence Based Nutrition (EBN) intervention in clinical practice to tackle the huge burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

The seminar witnessed an active participation from the medical and health sector fraternities from across India. The program aims to collaborate with partner organizations to enhance resistance capacity, reduce nutritional deaths, and contribute to environmental conservation efforts.

During the event - 11th in the series - doctors and health professionals discussed the role of implementing evidence-based nutritional treatment in controlling and reversing lifestyle diseases like hypertension, diabetes.

The objective of the event was to create awareness and training to the medical practitioners on adopting a holistic approach towards the disease that doesn’t involve only prescribing the pills but preventing it through lifestyle and nutritional consumption changes.

The seminar at Mumbai was addressed by the top doctors from Mumbai Dr Rupa Shah, Dr Sharang Wartikar, and Ambassadors Dr Madhavi Kathpal and Dr. Ajoy Prabhu.

Shruti Sharma, the Programme Manager of PAN India highlighted the impact PAN has created in other states and prestigious institutions like AIIMS Jodhpur, AIIMS Nagpur, AIIMS Bilaspur, and govt. medical colleges in Bangalore, Coimbatore, Mysore, Jalgaon and Bharatpur.

Dr Rajeena Shahin, the Medical Director of PAN India, said, “There is a serious need of shifting the healthcare focus to a more preventive approach and nutrition or lifestyle first approach, as India has a huge burden on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Currently 66% mortality is due to non-communicable diseases unlike the much-developed western world. In India NCDs occur at a much younger age, two-third of Indian population with non-communicable diseases falls in the 26-59 age group, which are the most productive years of life.

Dr Rupa Shah, the Medical Advisor to PAN India said, “To create awareness amongst medical doctors about the power of healthy plant-based foods and active lifestyle is the need of the hour. It is time for health care professionals to start thinking a step before prescription. It is much easier to prevent a lifestyle disease than to manage it.”

Dr Sharang Wartikar, Advisor, PAN said, “The population wide adoption of plant-based food habits not only helps to improve the health of humans but also our planet. Animal agriculture is the number one cause of deforestation, ocean damage and species extinction. A switch to a plant-based diet will free up large amounts of land, food and water for human utilization. And if our current generation doesn't make this switch, it might become too late for the next generations to do anything about it.”