ST. LOUIS (PRWEB)
May 25, 2021

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), the medical professional society that has championed food as medicine since its inception in 2004, today announced the availability of the second installment of its “Food as Medicine” course, titled “Nutrition for Treatment and Risk Reduction.” The entire CME- and CE-accredited course is designed around the belief that healthful eating has the power to help prevent, treat and mitigate many chronic diseases.

Lead faculty for the second course installment is Michelle McMacken, MD, DipABLM, Associate Professor of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

This installment provides an overview of the scientific evidence on food groups and dietary patterns for treatment and risk reduction of common lifestyle-related conditions, with a focus on cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, cancer prevention, and obesity. The session also includes a brief review of carbohydrates, fats, and protein in relation to chronic disease, as well as a discussion of practical approaches to nutrition counseling.

“Food as Medicine: Nutrition for Treatment and Risk Reduction” consists of one lecture and 1.5 hours of content. Specifically, this second installment of the course will:

• Describe dietary patterns that have been shown to be effective in the treatment and risk reduction of common lifestyle-related chronic diseases
• Discuss how diet behaviors impact chronic disease development and progression
• Identify ways in which different macronutrient sources may contribute to disease progression or improvement
• Explore basic counseling strategies for dietary behavior change

The course is targeted to a variety of clinicians with an interest in food as medicine: physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered dietitians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, other health professionals working with chronic disease prevention or treatment, certified health coaches and clinicians in training.

The first installment of ACLM’s “Food as Medicine” course, launched in March 2021, provides three hours of CME- and CE- accredited content on the dietary patterns shown to prevent chronic disease and support longevity. Lead faculty for the first installment was Kayli Anderson, MS, RDN, ACSM-EP, DipACLM.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation identified in its 2019 Global Burden of Disease report that the leading cause of disease and death is a result of what we are, and are not, eating. Yet most physicians and medical professionals receive few hours of clinical nutrition education throughout their formal training. ACLM is committed to filling this void, supporting healthcare providers in their ability to prescribe food as medicine, empowering patients to make the evidence-based dietary lifestyle changes needed to protect health and fight disease, with health restoration as the clinical outcome goal.

The limited nutrition education customarily offered in medical and health professional programs is often didactic and focused on the biochemistry of nutrients and health consequences of deficiency states—content that is of limited use in a clinical setting where the majority of the population are overfed but undernourished due to high intake of ultras-processed, calorie-dense, high saturated fat-laden foods.

“Building upon the first installment focused on food for prevention and longevity, the second installment focuses on the therapeutic use of food to treat lifestyle-related chronic disease,” said ACLM President Cate Collings, MD, MS, FACC, DipABLM. “This equips physicians and other clinicians with the scientific evidence and resources to confidently use food as medicine with their own patients and in their own health systems. ACLM is proud to add this course segment to our growing resources for medical professionals to learn how to prevent, treat and even mitigate lifestyle-related chronic disease.”

Learn more or register for the course here.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF LIFESTYLE MEDICINE: ACLM is the nation’s medical professional society dedicated to the advancement and clinical practice of lifestyle medicine as the foundation of a transformed and sustainable health care system. Lifestyle medicine is the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic intervention—including a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances, and positive social connection—as a primary modality, delivered by clinicians trained and certified in this specialty, to prevent, treat, and often reverse chronic disease.

More than a professional association, ACLM is a galvanized force for change. ACLM addresses the need for quality education and certification, supporting its members in their individual practices and in their collective mission to promote lifestyle medicine as the first treatment option, as opposed to a first option of treating symptoms and consequences with expensive, ever increasing quantities of pills and procedures. ACLM members are united in their desire to identify and eradicate the root cause of disease. Learn more at http://www.lifestylemedicine.org.

Designation Statement:

Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This activity is being presented without bias and without commercial support.

ANCC Credit Designation – Nurses

The maximum number of hours awarded for this CE activity is 1.5 contact hours.

Rush University is an approved provider for physical therapy (216.000272), occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, social work (159.001203), nutrition, speech-audiology, and psychology by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. Rush University designates this enduring material for 1.5 Continuing Education credit(s).

Rush University Medical Center designates this knowledge-based CPE activity for 1.5 contact hours for pharmacists.

Rush University designates this internet enduring material for 1.5 CE credits in psychology.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1.50 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participation completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.

The AAFP has reviewed Food as Medicine: Nutrition for Treatment and Risk Reduction and deemed it acceptable for up to 1.50 Enduring Materials, Self-Study AAFP Prescribed credit. Term of Approval is from 05/17/2021 to 05/17/2022. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

The American Board of Lifestyle Medicine has approved 1.5 maintenance of certification credits for this learning activity.