The Building Blocks of Life: A Nutrition Foundation for Healthcare Professionals

By TC Callis, Author

Within the United Kingdom (UK), mainstream healthcare practitioners often lack comprehensive nutrition education during their training years. Consequently, primary care practitioners such as general practitioners, pharmacists, midwives, and practice nurses have limited understanding of nutrition, primarily focusing on energy consumption and obesity. There is a significant knowledge gap regarding the wealth of micronutrients essential for health, as well as the alarming issue of insufficient intakes amongst a substantial proportion of the UK population.

The Building Blocks of Life: A Nutrition Foundation for Healthcare Professionals aims to address this imbalance. It provides an informative and engaging narrative on how and why nutrition is the foundation for good health. The book discusses UK-specific issues related to diet and intakes of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and other micronutrients. It also raises concerns about the potential negative health implications of the generally poor UK diet and suggests ways healthcare practitioners can support patients in improving their long-term health outlook.

Nutrition policy in the UK needs to be updated to the 21st century, and this book presents evidence-based arguments challenging current public health myths. These include the idea that 10 micrograms of vitamin D is sufficient for everyone, the messaging around consuming saturated fat versus highly processed seed oils, and the belief that a varied and balanced diet can provide all necessary nutrients.

Although The Building Blocks of Life: A Nutrition Foundation for Healthcare Professionals focuses on concerns around poor diet and consequent micronutrient inadequacies in the UK, the nutritional details are relevant worldwide. Everyone consumes food constantly, and it is time for mainstream medicine to consider food as both a cause and a solution to many chronic degenerative conditions prevalent in modern life.

Product Details

Publisher: CRC Press; March 28, 2023

Language: English

ISBN: 9781032271118, 9781000844702