Wisconsin CME Session Explores Benefits/Costs of Nutrition+ for CAD, Childhood Obesity

Summary:  As an early step in exploring development of a formal graduate program in nutrition, the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) are sponsoring a CME-CEU program on November 10 which will compare data on nutritional and other interventions for two significant health problems: coronary artery disease and childhood obesity. The November 10 program distinguishes itself, as a conventional medical school-sponsored program, for its multi-disciplinary faculty and its willingness to ask the $64-billion dollar+ question: How do natural and integrated treatments stack up, clinically and financially, compared to conventional approaches alone?

On November 10, 2006, the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) are sponsoring a CME/CEU program which drives directly into the heart of the matter for integrated health care. The packed day of presentations, case studies and panel discussions asks the most significant - yet frequently avoided - question in integration: Do we stand to gain, clinically and/or economically, from more integrated approaches to our very costly chronic diseases?

In fact, the meeting is a fact-finding event in a broader exploration toward development of a formal, graduate training program in nutrition.

Joseph Weitzer, PhD, conference coordinator

Nutrition is not the only natural approach which will be assessed. Data on exercise and lifestyle interventions with be presented, together with information on conventional approaches such as surgical and pharmacotherapeutics. The multi-disciplinary faculty includes MDs, NDs, PhDs, RNs an MPH and an MD-ND. Says Weitzer: "Speakers are likely to address information about other therapies as well."

Making a Public Health Case for Nutritional Approaches
 
Weitzer notes that one source of interest in this CME/CEU offering and the broader exploration development of a graduate nutrition program, was in faculty discussions around public health topics for Wisconsin's population. States Weitzer: "Immediate opportunities became apparent in the area of nutrition." He adds: "We're so ripe for an approach that considers the role of nutrition in hte prevention and treatment of disease."

Weitzer is aware of challenges in adding nutrition to already tight medical school curricula. Yet "allopathic medicine doesn't typically address the culminating, contributing factors to a person's state of disease." He sees the physician playing a critical role in insuring patient involvement in changing behavior:

"If we know that the physician is a key element - is who patients seek out for information about their health - then physicians need to be able to provide appropriate education. As they acknowledge their role as educators, the healthcare they offer will continue to evolve."

This conference is viewed as a first step toward addressing what the team views as "the on-going needs of health care providers to better understand the role of nutrition and other therapies in the treatment of disease."  Target audience includes MDs, DCs, nurses, nutritionist and physicians assistants.

Asked about distinctions between content on food and on supplementations, Weitzer states: "Supplements will certainly be discussed. It's hard to look at changing diets without focusing on where there are deficiencies and where you'll get your vitamins, minerals and nutrients." He reflects: "This is really a subject of an entire conference."

Multi-Disciplinary Team and Presenters

• Randall Lambrecht, PhD, dean of the UWM college of health sciences, kicks off the this inaugural event for this Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine member institution.
  
• Joseph Pizzorno, ND, founder of Salugenecists and a pioneering researcher on the scientific evidence for nutritional interventions.
  
• A sequence on hyperlipidemia includes two medical doctors, Anthony Pagedas, MD and William Gaertner, MD, and a naturopathic physician, Ryan Bradley, ND, on pharmacotherapeutics, exercise and nutrition, respectively.