13/06/2019
BANT WELCOMES PROFESSOR TIM SPECTOR ET AL., PREDICT 1 STUDY
BANT (British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine) welcomes the initial findings from the Predict 1 Study that individualised nutrition and lifestyle recommendations are key to human health. BANT members have been working with their clients offering personalised recommendations for the past 22 years, since BANT’s foundation in 1997, and were proud to have been selected to work with Professor Spector, the lead researcher on this study, on the precursor project to this study, ‘Map My Gut’.
The Predict 1 study confirms the nutrition ethos that BANT has been practising and promoting since its inception. BANT has repeatedly highlighted that a one-size-fits all health and nutrition policy such as Public Health England’s ‘Eat Well Plate’ is counter-productive and that the recent out-dated calorie campaign is inappropriate. Calorie counting takes little to no account of the nutritional values of different foods and their relation to an individuals’ health and the continual tinkering of out-dated nutrition science is putting the health of the British Nation at risk and is contributing to the current National Health Service crisis.
Professor Tim Spector commented “BANT Practitioners know that everyone responds differently to food because they see this in their practices on a day-to-day basis. Members of the public can experiment with this approach by signing up to joinzoe.com to be ahead of the curve when the app is available next year. Your local BANT Practitioner can help you understand your responses better to further personalise your food choices.”
BANT Chair Miguel Toribio-Mateas, who worked with Professor Spector in Map My Gut said: “the preliminary results of the Predict Study are very encouraging. They support my belief that within 5 years these kind of tools will not be an option, but a necessity for nutrition practitioners to do their job effectively.”
The study was undertaken by an international team comprised of researchers from Kings College, London and Massachusetts General Hospital, alongside nutritional science company, ZOE. 1,000 participants, mostly made up of pairs of twins, consumed set meals and logged every mouthful of food or drink they consumed over a 2-week period. Blood levels of sugar, fat and the hormone insulin were monitored throughout, and data on activities, sleep patterns, hunger and gut bacteria levels were also collected. The main findings were that even amongst the genetically identical twin pairs, blood glucose, fat and hormone responses to identical foods were widely different, confirming the study’s hypothesis that no two people’s responses to individual foods are the same.
BANT Chair Miguel Toribio-Mateas commented: I am excited to see years of scientific data translated into a tangible application that can help change people’s lives. This type of application of nutrition science is the future of clinical practice.”
Since 1997 BANT Nutrition Practitioners have practised nutrition and lifestyle medicine, described as the application of behaviour changes to benefit health and prevent disease, based on the knowledge of how diet, nutrition and the environment interact with our genes to promote long-term stability and resilience at cellular level. Nutritional therapy is the application of nutrition science in the promotion of health, peak performance and individual care. It is a progressive approach to health optimisation.
In 2017 the Royal Society for Public Health published a report that looked at the potential impact that the ‘untapped resource’ of practitioners on Accredited Registers (ARs), such as BANT, could make a significant contribution to public health. The report made a key recommendation that AR practitioners have the authority to make direct NHS referrals, in appropriate cases, to ease the administrative burden on GP surgeries.
BANT continues to promote its Wellbeing Guidelines campaign to encourage the British people to eat more individual ingredients and unprocessed food. BANT also continues to call for some grass-roots changes to nutrition recommendations including the reintroduction of home economics classes in school; education about healthy eating; how diet and lifestyle can influence health over the short and long-term; and promotion by Government Agencies of the consumption of healthy ingredients and the minimisation of ultra-processed foods, so prevalent in typical British diets.
Looking for a BANT Registered Nutritional Therapist is easy; just click on the link for a full listing of our Registered Nutritional Therapists area by area: http://bant.org.uk/bant/jsp/practitionerSearch.faces.
