Health Food, Bushey, Nutrition Advice, Acupuntute, oriental medicine
Health Food
Health food is a term that has been used in the United States since the 1920s and refers to specific foods claimed to be especially beneficial to health.
In contrast to a regular healthy diet, proponents of health foods claim that particular foods have specific favorable effects on health. Examples of health foods include alfalfa sprouts, wheat germ and yogurt. Natural foods and organic food are related categories. Health foods are sold in health food stores or in the health/organic section of supermarkets.
The term is often used for foods that are low in fat and/or sugar, since overconsumption of fatty and sugary foods is seen as contributing to the obesity epidemic.
Nutritionist
Nutritionist, unlike dietitian, is not currently a protected term. Although there are a considerable number of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in nutrition in the UK, anyone can refer to himself or herself as a nutritionist without any formal qualifications. Different organizations use their own criteria to define a nutritionist. According to one of these, the Nutrition Society of the UK, the function of a nutritionist is to elicit, integrate, disseminate and apply scientific knowledge drawn from the relevant sciences, to promote an understanding of the effects of nutrition, and to enhance the impact of food on health and well-being of animals and/or people. They accredit nutritionists, conferring the titles Associate Nutritionist (ANutr) and Associate Public Health Nutritionist (APHNutr). For these they consider an undergraduate training sufficient for associate membership. Full registration as a , Registered Nutritionist, (R Nutr.), or Registered Public Health Nutritionist (RPHNutr) requires at least three years work experience and the fulfilment of key competencies required to operate safely and effectively. They must also agree to abide by a code of ethics and maintain their standards for working with the public.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is the procedure of inserting and manipulating needles into various points on the body to relieve pain or for therapeutic purposes. The earliest written record of acupuncture is the Chinese text Shiji (史記, English: Records of the Grand Historian) with elaboration of its history in the second century BCE medical text Huangdi Neijing (黃帝內經, English: Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon). Different variations of acupuncture are practiced and taught throughout the world.
Acupuncture has been the subject of active scientific research since the late 20th century but it remains controversial among medical researchers and clinicians. Due to the invasive nature of acupuncture treatments, it is difficult to create studies that use proper scientific controls. Two Cochrane Reviews have found acupuncture to reduce the risk of post-operative nausea and provide better relief for chronic low back pain than no treatment or sham treatment. In 2007, Edzard Ernst reported that since 2000 the evidence base for acupuncture had improved, favouring acupuncture, for seven conditions, while for six other conditions the evidence base had moved in the opposite direction. Three other review articles have been published on the effectiveness of acupuncture and concluded it was best explained through the placebo effect.