National Congress of Lifestyle Medicine: The food is information, and nutrition has a genetic impact on us!

Medici celebri în toată lumea au participat săptâmâna trecută la cea de-a doua ediție a Congresului Național de Medicină a Stilului de Viață, organizat de Romanian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (RSLM), în parteneriat cu Senatul Științific al Fundației Dan Voiculescu Pentru Dezvoltarea României. Evenimentul din acest an a fost intitulat “Boli letale moderne: Abordăm simptomele sau cauzele?” și a adus publicului roman o nouă abordare științifică a prevenției bolilor. 

With more than 45 experts in attendance, participants shared valuable, scientifically documented information on how lifestyle could ward off serious diseases and bring us a long and healthy old age. 

Unprecedented findings from lifestyle medicine researchers

American doctor Caldwell Esselstyn, an award-winning researcher for his work on methods of curing heart disease, explained that these conditions are not irreversible. "There is a chemical constriction in our arteries that is caused by unhealthy eating. So in areas where cholesterol accumulates, the vessels should be able to dilate to allow blood to pass through. The predominantly plant-based diet produces chemical changes that have the effect of dilating the blood vessels so we have the possibility of becoming healthy again without operations to implant stents, without drugs that can have side effects," explained the American researcher. 

Another American doctor renowned for his studies on the effects of vegan eating, Michael Klaper introduced in his presentation an extremely bold conclusion regarding the relationship between the human body and what it eats. "Research proves that diet influences genetic information, in that certain foods activate certain genes and blunt others. So what we eat is also information for our bodies, not just nutrients. In this way we will be able to know which foods influence the development of certain diseases that have genetic causes and how to activate genes that are beneficial to our health," said the doctor.

According to a 2021 country profile analysis by the European Commission, almost half of all deaths in Romania in 2019 can be attributed to tobacco use, unhealthy diet, alcohol consumption and low levels of physical activity. 

In this context, the Romanian Society of Lifestyle Medicine aims to implement the lifestyle medicine curriculum in Romanian universities in order to train healthcare professionals capable of providing patients with evidence-based approaches to the prevention, reversal and treatment of lifestyle-related conditions.

The Romanian Society of Lifestyle Medicine is the only professional association dedicated to this discipline, a concept brought to Romania in 2018 by Dr. Emanuela Mercore Hutanu who aims to introduce lifestyle medicine in Romanian university programs.

Since 2022, the Scientific Senate of Dan Voiculescu Foundation for the Development of Romania is a partner of the Romanian Society for Lifestyle Medicine and collaborates in the organization of international longevity conferences initiated by the Senate.

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