Plant-Based Nutrition’s Pivotal Role in Good Health Highlighted in Proceedings From International Conference on Nutrition in Medicine

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The importance of plant-based nutrition for good health is highlighted in the proceedings from the nearly two dozen presentations from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s 10th International Conference on Nutrition in Medicine, which were recently published in the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention.

“For more than a decade, the International Conference on Nutrition in Medicine has demonstrated to health care professionals the pivotal role nutrition plays in areas ranging from improving patient care to eliminating health disparities in federal food policy,” says Anna Herby, DHSc, RD, CDCES, who co-edited the proceedings and is the nutrition education specialist for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. “These proceedings are essential reading that will help clinicians incorporate nutrition into their practice.”

Highlights from the conference include presentations on the benefits of a plant-based for type 1 and 2 diabetes; women’s health, including breast cancer, endometriosis, and menopause; and childhood health, among other health conditions.

Kim Allan Williams Sr., MD, MACC, FAHA, MASNC, FESC, editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention and Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana Endowed Chair in Health Equity Professor and Chair in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, gave presentations on a plant-based diet’s role in reducing racial health disparities in cardiovascular disease, as well as improving COVID-19 outcomes.

Several presentations also focused on Physicians Committee’s Universal Meals program, which was unveiled at the conference. The innovative collection of recipes and resources, which is geared toward institutions such as universities and hospitals, is designed to accommodate the most common dietary restrictions.

The complete list of abstracts included in the conference proceedings include:

• How to Optimize Type 1 Diabetes Management by Addressing Insulin Resistance by Robby Barbaro, MPH
• Universal Meals: Nutrition Considerations for Allergen Friendly Meals by Lilian Correa, MPH, RD, DipACLM
• Creating Deliciousness for Universal Meals by David Kamen, MBA, PCIII
• Universal Meals: Everyone Has a Seat at the Table by Dustin Harder
• A Healthful Plant-Based Diet for Children by Brenda Davis, RD
• Is There a Role for Lifestyle Change in Endometriosis? by Gemma Newman, MBBCh, DFSRH, DRCOG, MRCGP
• Diet and Vasomotor Symptoms Update by Neal D. Barnard, MD, FACC
• Overcoming Endometriosis with Plants: A Case Study by Lianna Levine Reisner, MSOD
• Endometriosis Case Study by Rebecca Johnson
• The Role of Nutrition in Thyroid Health by Vanita Rahman, MD, DipABLM
• Soy Food Consumption and Breast Cancer Risk and Outcomes by Xiao-Ou Shu, MD, PhD
• Healthy Hospitals: Adventist Health Howard Memorial Hospital by Anna Herby, DHSc, RD, CDE
• Nutrition and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease by Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD
• Nutrition Essentials for Physicians by Neal D. Barnard, MD, FACC
• Dueling the Dual Pandemic: Nutrition, COVID-19, and Cardiovascular Mortality by Kim Allan Williams, Sr., MD, MACC, FAHA, MASNC, FESC
• Nutrition, Health Equity, and Cardiovascular Mortality by Kim Allan Williams, Sr., MD, MACC, FAHA, MASNC, FESC
• Can Viruses Survive on Meat Products? by Emily S. Bailey, PhD
• Canada’s Food Guide: Global Leadership in Nutrition Policy Brenda Davis, RD
• Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Necessary Steps Moving Forward by Jennifer Paul-Quinn, RDN, MPH
• Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Advocacy and Policy by Andrew Binovi, MPP
• Medication Deprescribing for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes by James Loomis, MD, MBA, DipABLM, FACLM
• Ethics in Research by Neal D. Barnard, MD, FACC
• Nutrition for Hospital Workers During a Crisis by Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD

Many of the presentations are available on NutritionCME.org, which provides continuing education on the role of nutrition in brain health, heart health, diabetes, obesity, and more, all free of commercial sponsorship.

Visit PCRM.org/ICNM to register for next year's conference taking place from Aug. 15-17, 2024, in Washington, D.C.