Obesity has been recognized as a public health problem worldwide (Landau et al., 2015). According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018), the prevalence of obesity in 2016 in the United States was almost 40%, about 43% are adults ages 40 – 59 years old and 35% of that are 20 – 39 years of age, and it continues to grow. Looking at these numbers is pretty scary, since there are so many diseases associated with being obese.
Naturopathic medicine is an approach that should be more applied to our healthcare system to alleviate public health concerns, such as obesity. Using the power of nature to prevent diseases and treating a person as a whole may treat the patient not only physically, but mentally. As a practitioner, the most important recommendation in preventing diseases is lifestyle modification, which naturopathic medicine suggests in dealing with public health problems, such as obesity. I feel as if this practice should be more implemented in underserved population because of its effectiveness and can promote health in a cost-effective manner.
References
Herman PM, Szczurko O, Cooley K, Mills EJ, Herman, P. M., Szczurko, O., … Mills, E. J. (2008). Cost-effectiveness of naturopathic care for chronic low back pain. Alternative Therapies in Health & Medicine, 14(2), 32–39. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csusm.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=105888015&site=ehost-live
Wardle, J., & Oberg, E. B. (2011). The intersecting paradigms of Naturopathic Medicine and public health: Opportunities for Naturopathic Medicine. Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, 17(11), 1079–1084. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csusm.edu/10.1089/acm.2010.0830