Metabolic syndrome and dietary habit

Abstract

  The importance of the concept ”metabolic syndrome” can be found in the changeover of mind-set. In a conventional approach, one's lifestyle improvement is forced for the first time after getting a disease. According to this concept, however, one's life-style improvement is to be advised actively at a stage before getting a disease. The diet therapy using this concept, which differs from the conventional one that gives a special prescription depending on one's specific disease, is based on diet guidelines recommended by academic societies for relevant diseases to be applicable and effective to such diseases. The first goal is reduction of visceral fat, more specifically, reduction of 5% of the initial amount of visceral fat so that the character of their fat cells qualitatively change. This diet therapy consulting covers over not only the eating habit but also physical exercises, appropriate controls of alcohol drinking and quitting smoking. Our diet advising focuses on modification of eating habit that tends to get more high-energy food, and guides people to have an eating habit to take an appropriate amount of energy. We use an action changing skill method for nutrition consultation, introducing a concept “food balance guide”, which teaches that the nutrition balance shall and can be realized by combining appropriate amount of staple food, side dish and some accompanying dishes. In many cases, no conventional diet therapy that requires an exact nutrition energy calculation is necessary.
  According to the reformation of medical administration system, which will be implemented in 2008, a person diagnosed as a metabolic syndrome will be obliged to follow a life-style consultation. The aim of this reformation is to reduce the burden of medical costs, namely, not to make people get ill. According to the relevant law, the public health nurses and national registered dietitians will be in charge of this consultation task. The position in society of the national dietitians, thus, will be estimated under the new medical administration system.
  In other words, I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that the future playing field of the dietitians and the national registered dietitians will be determined by the degree how they could contribute to the aim of the Health, Labor and Welfare ministry, namely, how they would contribute to reduce 25% of the number of persons in would-be life-style related diseases. I hope this confronting challenge will become a chance to their big break.