Nutrition is a very complex issue but it is the most important factor in a healthy lifestyle. While as a dental office, our particular nutrition focus with respect to dental disease is usually on reducing sugar to help control cavities, nutrition affects your whole body and general health as well as your dental health. Some of the general health factors caused by poor nutrition also affect periodontal/gum health as well. There is more information on sugar and cavities in the section on “Cavities” under “Patient Education“.
Vague instructions like “Eat Healthy” sound good, but are of little value. What does it actually mean? The number one reason people don’t change to a healthier way of eating is that they think they are already eating healthy. They think that they may have some minor things they could do better but that overall, they eat healthily. Unfortunately this is seldom the case.
Foods and eating habits today are very different from our parent’s and grandparent’s time. The contents of processed foods and restaurant food is a far cry from traditional diets a number of years ago. There are huge differences as well in food preparation at home and what most people consider a home cooked meal today compared to our grandparents time. Food in general has undergone a huge transformation in our society and it is not just the processed foods that have changed.
The understanding of the importance and effects of different foods and additives is something that is constantly undergoing a process of change through ongoing research. Much of what we think we know about nutrition and have been taught and see as basic fundamental truths has been shown in more recent research studies to be wrong.
The link below is offered as a way for patients and people in general to find out what current research is showing with respect to nutrition. Getting good accurate information can be difficult for a variety of reasons. Information that shows up in the media is often misleading, contradictory, incomplete, or incorrect.
This link is to a totally free site called nutritionfacts.org, (notice there is no www before the name if you are entering it manually) which is a non-profit organization run by a physician named Dr. Michael Greger and a team of volunteers. Dr. Greger and his team reviews every current English language medical and nutrition journal published in the world to obtain current scientifically based information about nutrition and then provides it in easy to digest, short (2 – 5 minutes) video presentations. Along with the current video, the site maintains the entire collection of previous videos as well.
This is an ongoing project and the information is updated with new videos every couple of days. If new information about a subject becomes available in the scientific literature that is different from previous information, it will be reflected in the newer videos. The site also provides a listing of the scientific articles referenced for each video if you wish to pursue a topic deeper.
At first glance the website may appear confusing but it is very easy to use when you get the hang of it. At the top, it shows the most recent video (you can even sign up to be notified by email of each new video as it is posted at no charge). There are a variety of ways to search for topics you are interested in.
If you prefer a longer more comprehensive summary, on the bottom of the home page are links to 60 minute, annual presentations that Dr. Greger makes to summarize new findings in the previous year. As an alternative to going to the site the direct links to these 60 minute summaries are:
“From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases With Food” – 2014
“More Than an Apple a Day: Combating Common Diseases” 2013
“Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death” – 2012
This is a great resource to get accurate information about nutrition.
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