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Excerpted from the July/August 2015 edition of AOA Focus. Americans are more conscious of all aspects of nutrition than ever before—from eschewing cholesterol and carbs to embracing Paleo and Mediterranean diets. March is National Nutrition Month, the perfect time to start a discussion with patients about their diet and lifestyle. There is a lot of confusing misinformation out there about proper nutrition and supplementing for optimal eye health. Patients may be following useless, erroneous or even dangerous therapy programs of their own making. That is why it is critical for doctors of optometry to proactively talk to every patient—not just seniors or those with eye disease—about proper nutrition. "The popular media has done a great benefit as well as some detriment in bringing the word to people about the need for specific nutrients for their eye health," says Kimberly Reed, O.D., director of the Ocular Nutrition Clinic at Nova Southeastern University Eye Care Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "Media are interested in just the sound bite, so the general population is not getting the whole story. It's been an area of controversy not only in the media, but within our profession. There are different interpretations of even some of the highly respected study outcomes. So patients are often very confused about the mixed messages and which sources are reliable." Questions you should be asking about nutritionThere is no one-size-fits-all nutrition fix. Patients are individuals; they have different demographics, diets, health concerns and lifestyles. "Every single patient needs to be evaluated with that in mind," says Dr. Reed. "In my opinion, optometrists need to ask their patients specific questions concerning what damaging food stuffs they have in their diet as well as what they are missing, if we are going to have any hope of heading off degenerative eye disease. It's about diet, lifestyle and nutrition," says Stuart Richer, O.D., Ph.D., associate professor, Family and Preventive Medicine, at Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. Start with the following questions:
Visit the AOA's diet and nutrition page. Find tips on recommending the right nutritional supplements to patients. |