Diet: Lifestyle Medicine: Marketing or Reality?

Hippocrates defended 25 centuries ago: “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.” still today this belief exists that many diseases can heal yourself with certain healthy habits. Surprisingly, according to a survey by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 40% of Americans think that cancer can be cured only with alternative medicineThat is, without chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy or surgery.

Biography

Dr. Ricardo Ruiz Rodríguez is a dermatologist and doctor of Medicine ‘cum laude’. After graduating from October 12 Hospital, he expanded his training for two years working at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and the University of California, San Francisco, both in the United States. He later completed a Master’s Degree in Medical Innovation at INSEAD, France. He is a regular speaker at multiple international conferences and has written five books. He directed the Dermatology Unit of the Ruber Clinic for 24 years until in 2018 his International Dermatology Clinic changed its headquarters to Calle Marqués de Villamagna 8 in Madrid, creating the first ‘Skin Hospital’ in Spain. The prestigious International Dermatology Clinic, founded and directed by Dr. Ruiz, has been chosen in the last four years as the best monographic dermatological clinic in Spain, according to the Health Reputation Monitor. It is the first Spanish center where clinical, surgical, oncological, pediatric and repair dermatology are performed together, with specific operating rooms for the treatment of skin cancer and hair transplantation, a pathological anatomy laboratory and a genetics unit. International Dermatology Clinic: www.clinicadermatologicainternacional.com – Instagram: @ricardoruizdermatologo

Alternative medicine and lifestyle: not the same

There is a trend in our modern society to use alternative treatments to traditional medicine based on the ‘natural’. But there is a bit of confusion between what is the alternative medicine and what is lifestyle medicine or “lifestyle medicine”. Alternative medicine involves recommending therapeutic methods or techniques that are not found within them conventional treatments which we perform in traditional medicine and which, unlike this, has the advantage of not having side effects apparently. Here we could include acupuncture, detoxification treatments through fasting or specific diets, certain herbs, homeopathic remedies, Vitamin supplements, etc.

What is ‘lifestyle medicine’?

This type of lifestyle-based medicine, which is very fashionable all over the world, is based on take care of our habits: Diet, exercise, sleep, how to relate, how to take care of our minds, our exposure to certain toxic, Etc. Many chronic pathologies (diabetes, obesity, Coronary heart disease, hypertension, depressive or anxious pictures, etc.) can be prevented and even cured just by taking care of our habits. This means not only an improvement in our quality of life, but one huge decrease in health spending. And there are more and more clinical trials demonstrating the effectiveness of acquiring these habits.

You have to rely on science

The pandemic has clearly shown this. In less than a year it has been possible to create one safe and effective vaccine against this pandemic using the scientific method of clinical trials. Now it needs to be manufactured, distributed and administer it to the world’s populationBut this is another matter, which no longer depends on scientists. Israel, which has already vaccinated nearly half the population, has dropped to 0.015% of infections after the second dose of the vaccine.

The problem with alternative medicine is the lack of scientific evidence

I am personally against medicine that does not follow scientific criteria based on proper diagnosis and treatment that has been shown to be effective through clinical trials. This is the problem of alternative medicine: the lack of scientific evidence. In medicine, ‘I was fine’ is not worth it. Patients need to understand that if any of these alternative methods worked well, traditional medicine would prove it and quickly incorporate it into their therapeutic arsenal.

I remember a patient who came in for a mouth ulcer and was carrying it months in herbal treatment, Mindfulness and special diets. We did a biopsy and it was one cancer oral. If I had had one earlier diagnosis, this patient would have been saved.

How do you know if what they promise is false?

Therefore, lifestyle medicine or ‘lifestyle medicine’ can be one great complement for traditional medicine. But Be careful! In these complementary and alternative medicines to the traditional there are very opportunistic. Therefore, the American Cancer Society recommends that patients consider the following alarm signs to detect these scams:

He suspects the advertising claims in the face of serious diseases difficult to treat by traditional medicine (vitiligo, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, etc.).
He suspects treatments that only have benefits and they have no side effects. Even herbs and vitamins can have side effects. I will talk about this in one next message.
He suspects those he promotes attacks versus consolidated treatments of traditional medicine (examples in dermatology would be Roacutan for acne or cortisone for dermatitis).
He suspects treatments that can only be performed on one clinic, Especially if it is in countries with more relaxed legislation. If the treatment really works, there will be more clinics that can offer it.
Suspicious of the personal stories. What has happened to a person can be due to many causes, even a spontaneous improvement in the disease itself. Trust medicine based on clinical trials performed in many patients.
Check if these treatments have been published in scientific journals of prestige after being reviewed by other expert scientists in the field. In many cases, what appears on social media, books and media are just that marketing strategies.

A great addition

This habit-based medicine should not replace traditional medicine, but it can be a great complement. Taking care of your diet, doing physical activity, sleeping well, manage stress, take care of the mind and learning to relate to others are habits that will make us live longer and better.

Traditional doctors should be trained in how transmit these healthy habits to our patients, but it is true that many times we do not have the training or the time to do so. On the other hand, doctors should be informed by our patients of any complementary treatment they perform, as sometimes there may be contraindications. I remember a patient who he bled a lot during surgery of skin cancer and it turned out that he was taking a lot of antioxidants to prevent aging, which can alter a person’s ability to clot.

Skin and mind, incredibly related

This lifestyle medicine gives special importance to the relationship between the body and mind. As I wrote in a previous post there is a fascinating relationship between the skin and mind. Many skin diseases (eczema, alopecia, psoriasis, Etc.) get worse with certain moods. Conversely, many skin disorders (vitiligo, angiomas, acne) can cause anxiety, depression, and lack of self-esteem. In fact, skin cells and neurons are derived from the embryonic cells themselves.

The example of the Mayo Clinic

I remember the lobby of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. When one enters the main hall of the main building (Golda Building), in a studied attempt to create a good one first impression, One is located in a space with double height, open, bright and with a large piano. I was amazed that patients were continually approaching and they played the piano spontaneously and occasionally some ‘spontaneous’ was ‘ripped off’ to sing. I once witnessed an opera singer, a cancer patient at the clinic, who began to sing in the main room while a nurse spontaneously began to accompany him on the piano. People, myself included, stared at the scene with wet eyes. At the Mayo Clinic they argue that the art promotes healing (They call it Art & Healing). It is another way to take care of the mind, especially in situations as stressful as living an illness.

In short, the lifestyle-based medicine (‘lifestyle medicine’) it is not an alternative a la traditional medicine, But a complement to the health needs required by the new times. Valuing what we eat, how we approach our physical activity, mind-body connections, how we relate, how we use stress, what toxins we are exposed to, and how we feed our spirit can help us improve our quality of life, Prevent disease and age better.

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Sometimes, doctors have neither the training nor the adequate resources to manage these changes in patients ’lifestyles. Trying to introduce these healthy habits should be one priority in any health system, And is the basis of true preventive medicine. Covid-19 has cruelly shown us the importance of having good personal health to deal with certain infections. In addition, encouraging these healthy habits would save huge costs to the system, as this type of medicine is not only effective, but also it is not expensive. Perhaps the medicine revolution is about going back to its roots. the real one personalized medicine of the future should be based on sitting next to the patient, listening to him, educating him and motivating him to eat well, to perform regular physical activity, To sleep well, not to be exposed to certain toxins and to maintain an adequate social relationship. We live in a time where it is a priority to maintain a balance between our mind and our body in order to withstand the emotional wounds of this pandemic.

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