Neurologists aren’t learning enough how to keep people healthy

It was a beautiful summer day in 2013 as I  sat on my cottage porch in Northern Michigan developing my final presentation to graduate with my PharmD degree.

Doing school work in such a serene environment may sound like torture, but actually it was quite pleasurable. Since 2010, I’ve been on a quest to understand why some people get disease and why some do not. Through my readings, one potential trigger that kept surfacing was how bacteria in the gut can impact the immune system and therefore cause disease.

The good news is that these our bacterial buddies could be altered through diet and exercise for the better. Basically, we hold the power to alter our internal ecosystem and improve health.

My 2013 PharmD presentation was about how changes in the bacterial communities of the gut may lead to multiple sclerosis and how diet and lifestyle may change these communities. At the time, there was already a growing body of information on the importance of our gut bacteria, but my pharmacy peers had almost no introduction, since drugs regimens were the mainstay of our curriculum. Needless to say, I was excited to share this research to future health professionals and encourage them to consider their diet in a different way.

So when I was in Vancouver this past week at the 68^th Annual American Academy of Neurology (AAN) conference, I was pleasantly surprised to find their well-advertised, dedicated Health & Wellness section located in the convention hall. Here, they provided morning yoga, afternoon meditation, and all day messages and health lectures.

It was extremely encouraging to see diet and lifestyle topics infiltrating the typically conservative neurology scene and I was thrilled to read the section’s tagline “Taking Care of Yourself so that You can Take Care of Others.”

Health and wellness lectures at this venue, such as “Guts & Glory: The Importance of Diet & Exercise in Managing Patients with Multiple Sclerosis” conveyed a sense of hope that the medical establishment was shifting towards a more holistic approach to treating patients.

Unfortunately, my hope was let down.

First, despite the catchy and interesting topic titles, the content contained within the Health & Wellness presentations were elementary and outdated. Secondly, the overall lack of research on lifestyle measures as a means to improve disease was disappointing.

Too Elementary

It’s 2016, and the information about health and wellness—presented by established neurologists—was highlighted as an emerging field of science. It’s not. This is old news. It’s just that old-school physicians have been inundated by drug company messages asserting their products hold the key to wellness.

Let me briefly explain why this is old news. In the summer of 2013 as a pharmacy student, I wrote a blog post on Steelworks Strength Systems page describing the importance of gut bacteria, diet and their synergistic role in wellness.

In the fall of 2013, I presented my final PharmD research describing the implications of gut bacteria on autoimmune disease, specifically multiple sclerosis, to a classroom full of pharmacy students and professors.

And in the spring of 2015, I presented how diet, exercise, and mindfulness (and gut bacteria) can improve health and reduce stress to a roomful of pharmaceutical industry postdoctoral fellows and employees.

What irks me is that as a student in the field of pharmacy, I presented more detail in 2013 than did full-time, practicing neurologists in 2016.

We wonder why more people are getting sick…its that the people who treat our ailments are using and learning about an outdated medical approach!

Lack of Wellness Research

A key part of any medical conference is the poster hall where hundreds of research posters are presented describing the new data in the world.

As I walked up and down the rows of posters  in the large convention hall, one topic became apparent: Our medical system relies heavily on drugs.

The majority of the research described different analyses and comparisons of drugs and how they could impact neurological disease. This wasn’t solely  pharmaceutical company messaging domination either. Data on drugs were also presented by academic scientists, clinicians, and students.

With everyone clamoring to present new drug data, it gave the sense that the neurology community was passively waiting on the pharmaceutical industry for a new drug or disease detection tool for them to use, report, and receive recognition.

Drugs do have a role in treating disease and have helped many, but many more could be helped if we focus on supporting lifestyle interventions instead. The way it is now is as if we are helpless and reliant on the pharmaceutical industry for our health.

Health and wellness needs be addressed with dedicated research to convince the data junkies that lifestyle strategies to improve health are real and not some hippie-led movement.

To inspire more research in this field, health and wellness education needs to be included into more medical curricula and training (including the continuing education presented at medical conferences, like AAN). By doing so, more clinicians and scientists will begin to truly believe in the health benefits of diet and exercise.

While this may take time, I’ve pursued my own efforts to educate more health professionals on the topic of health and wellness. I’ve presented research about the health behaviors of pharmacy students and suggested ways for their behaviors to improve. (These results have been shared with the Dean of Student Affairs at MCPHS University. No response yet.)

To highlight diet as an integral component of health and wellness, I will be presenting a  continuing education module on the new 2015 federal dietary guidelines to pharmacists, and emphasizing the importance of lifestyle modification as the first step to controlling and improving disease. (Link coming soon)

I’ll continue to advocate for greater inclusion of health and wellness into the healthcare system and professional education, but I need assistance and support.

We can change the trajectory of disease through diet and wellness, together. It is our duty to spread this message and be champions for health.