Chiropractic Economics From the Editor: diet, diabetes and your patients

Patient Diet and Nutrition

It’s an incredibly exciting time for chiropractors and health care professionals who center their practices on wellness. The issue #5 theme, Diet & Nutrition, delivers on several wellness fronts.

Significant nutritional news stories and discoveries have come fast and furious in the first months of 2019 for chiropractors focused on patient wellness:

Missing breakfast can be deadly — skipping breakfast slows metabolism, but a new study out of Germany shows it can also be deadly. Individuals that skip breakfast 4-5 times a week, according to researchers, are at a 55 percent greater risk for developing diabetes.

But “ultraprocessed foods” are deadlier — with each 10 percent increase in ultraprocessed foods we eat, a French study shows a 14 percent higher risk of early death from obesity, high blood pressure and cancer, and other maladies. Among U.S. adults, approximately 61 percent of diets are currently composed of ultraprocessed foods.

Diabetes and a new mental illness threat — high blood sugar levels over a prolonged period resulting in type 2 diabetes prior to the age of 40 are now tied to an increased risk of serious mental illness. This is according to a population-based study from Hong Kong in a paper from Annals of Internal Medicine.

What it means for your patients

The links between chiropractic, wellness and holistic health have never been stronger for your patients, and you are primed to become their expert resources. Natural products, dietary supplements, and vitamins and minerals all play a part in the new complementary health approach as 95 percent of DCs give nutritional and dietary information, according to the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners.

This issue is full of expert diet and nutritional advice including our feature on whole foods and supplements, articles on nutritional science and resources, how your practice can impact weight loss and patients with diabetes, herbs in the clinical setting and much more. 

As industry statistics show, your patients are buying these supplements and looking for expert information — and that source is you.

Special: the industry gathers at Parker

The 2019 Parker Seminar Las Vegas on Feb. 21-23 saw the industry gather for three days of powerful insights, as well as new and established vendors exhibiting the latest in products and services.

From their giant conference footprints it wasn’t hard to distinguish the industry’s top foot orthotic, laser, software and table manufacturers. Check out the Parker Seminars website for a recap of the event, and make your plans now for August and the next industry gathering at The National in Orlando.

To your practice’s success,

Richard Vach

Editor-in-Chief
Chiropractic Economics magazine