Whole Health Chicago

The Center for Integrative Medicine

2522 North Lincoln Avenue Chicago, IL 60614

P: 773.296.6700 F: 773.296.1131

Knowledge Base

Welcome to our extensive library of articles on health concerns and ailments, alternative therapies, nutritional supplements, and much more. Please mouse over the letters to get started. We hope you enjoy browsing.

Join Our Health Tip Newsletter

Get advice and recommendations, delicious and time-saving recipes from The Triple Whammy Food Plan, medical news, supplement reviews, and more!

Q&A: Nutritional Medicine

Click here for the original post.

Q: In a recent newsletter you discussed new findings in nutritional medicine. I’ve never heard of nutritional medicine. Would you define it?

A: A physician who practices nutritional medicine utilizes a combination of lifestyle changes (diet, exercise, stress reduction) along with vitamins, minerals, and herbs, rather than first reaching for a prescription pad.

In many ways, nutritional medicine is similar to naturopathic medicine, except naturopaths can’t prescribe prescription drugs. Virtually all MDs who call themselves “holistic”–meaning they care for the whole person (mind, body, and spirit)–practice nutritional medicine.

Nutritional medicine is not taught in medical school or during residency training. Except for a few relatively short post-graduate courses in nutritional medicine, doctors who choose to incorporate it into their practice must learn it on their own. I learned a great deal about it by reading the textbooks used by naturopaths.

My recommending St. John’s wort, 5HTP, and B complex for depression; chasteberry for premenstrual syndrome; and black cohosh for menopause symptoms are all examples of nutritional medicine. In addition to the lifestyle changes, of course.