Nutrition in general practice in Italy

Abstract

Since the early 1950s the health promoting qualities of the Mediterranean diet (characterized by low intakes of total and saturated fat and high intakes of fiber and complex carbohydrates) have been acknowledged. Unfortunately, this dietary pattern, effective in lowering the risk of coronary artery disease as well as oxidative stress and carcinogenesis, is widespread only in the southern part of Italy, whereas the eating style and morbidity pattern in northern Italy are similar to those in northern Europe. Moreover, trends in eating behaviors in southern Italy are at risk of impairing the comparative advantage given by the Mediterranean diet. The current eating profile in northern Italy and the trend in southern Italy are therefore a suitable field for educational interventions by general practitioners (GPs) to preserve and promote healthier dietary patterns. Nutrition training of GPs does not yet appear sufficient to enable them to tackle this need. The undergraduate curriculum used to include (and no longer does) only an optional course in basic nutrition; little more teaching is added during vocational training. In Piedmont, a north-western region around Turin, two four-hour seminars for vocational trainees deal with the topics of basic nutrition in children, adolescents, and adults; malnutrition in the elderly; and diet treatment of chronic renal failure. Continuing medical education covers the same topics and a further module deals with diet in the control of diabetes. An effort is needed in the nutritional training of Italian GPs to enable them to give to their patients more than merely commonsense advice.