Shedding some Headwinds

Have you seen the list of drugs whose patents are going to expire in 2013 to 2016? It reads like a shopping list of drugs you'll need on a poor diet. Out of the 27 listed, at least 13 are unnecessary (statins), unneeded on a well-planned low-carb diet (acid blockers), treat conditions that might be improved by such a diet (medications for blood pressure, anti-depressants, bipolar disorder, diabetic nerve pain, for instance), or might be improved by removing wheat and other grains (medications for schizophrenia, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and osteoporosis).


On the one hand, doctors will feel less encouragement from drug salesmen, seminars and advertisements to prescribe these drugs. Without those headwinds, doctors might be more inclined to suggest diet changes. After all, avoiding grains and eating healthy fats is becoming more mainstream: the book Grain Brain (due out in September) is against wheat, sugar and carbs (presumably too much carb) and is endorsed by several mainstream doctors. Some doctors are giving their patients books such as It Starts with Food and The Primal Blueprint. Wheat Belly was a #1 best seller and a paleo podcast is #2 on the iTunes health chart. When I tell people I avoid carbs and wheat, they don't look at me like I have two heads as they did three years ago. Even my oral surgeon was interested in paleo diets.

On the other hand, managing an illness is a better business model than curing it, as long as it's an illness generally believed to be incurable, like heart disease or diabetes. Patients expect to have a broken arm cured. It will be painful for doctors to realize the treatment they've been giving their patients (like statins) is worse than useless. Some patients will balk at giving up muffins and lattes for more vegetables and a chunk of fatty meat. One therapist in the mental health field told me most of her patients were unwilling to change their diet; that might change if patients keep hearing that diet profoundly affects your mood. A friend of mine, after three years of my nagging her about it, finally tried a wheat-free diet after her doctor suggested it. (It worked.)

Once it becomes common sense to eat real food for your health and to try fixing your problems by tweaking your diet (which I think will happen in my lifetime), a lot of doctors are going to be out of business. (Note to bright young people: don't go into gastroenterology.) The smart ones will precede the wave, get experience using diet to treat patients, and become skilled enough to cure that cases that patients can't Google their way out of.