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<p>LOL 
This forum needs a few of these threads to lighten it up a bit.
But not too many.</p>
<p>First off, do you know what med schools are teaching us? I ask because you say youâre interested in naturopathy because you want to focus on the influence of lifestyle on health. Thatâs an insult to the importance of lifestyle on health. We spend lots of time in medical school discussing how choices we make impact our health and we also are taught and evaluated on our ability to counsel patients on lifestyle modification. MD does not stand for more drugs.</p>
<p>2nd I want to highlight that naturopathy is quack medicine. They are anti-vaccine and believe in homeopathy, the idea that if you serially dilute a solution you can enhance its ability. That is literally anathema to basic chemistry. There is a refusal to change beliefs like anti-vaccine when studies have shown that the incidence of vaccine preventable diseases is higher in children of adults who see naturopaths. This underscores a major problem with naturopathy: the lack of need or refusal to partake in evidence based practices using scientifically sound research practices.</p>
<p>okay, maybe I should clarify. Iâm focusing on the nutritional part of naturopathy, and Iâm not particularly informed about the other specifics of naturopathy - eg. the diluting part. </p>
<p>and you cannot say it is quack medicine if it is working for many, many people.</p>
<p>and the stuff about med schools are mostly about the nutritional part ⊠not everything. the problem is, some things theyâre teaching arenât exactly correct, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Am I just thinking about allopathic vs. osteopathic schools (D.O)?</p>
<p>there may also be a reimbursement legalityâŠit naturopathy treatments are not reimburseable under medicare etcâŠthen billing for the services provided as an md may cause you in trouble</p>
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<p>Sure you can. There are many, many people who believe the earth is flat. Doesnât mean theyâre right.</p>
<p>And if youâre especially interested in nutrition, then maybe a career path as a dietitian might be of more interest to you. (I know two. They spend 100% of their time promoting/designing health lifestyles and diet.)</p>
<p>But Iâm saying that itâs WORKING for many people, not just that people believe in it.</p>
<p>iâll look into the dietitian, but I am interested in the neurosciences ⊠is there a career that somehow combines the two? xD</p>
<p>Well, the flat earth theory is WORKING for many people too. They havenât fallen over the edgeâŠ</p>
<p>IIRC, youâre a psych major, right? There is an element of counseling/psych evaluation in being a dietitian. There is also some work with understanding how certain foods activate certain reward pathways in the brain and how to work with that knowledge on a practical level in developing healthy diets.</p>
<p>There is an subfield of neuroscience that studies obesity and the neurochemistry involved with that. But it doesnât really look at nutritional issues.</p>
<p>Iâm actually double majoring in neurobiology and philosophy. But, I am interested in psychology ⊠Iâm working in a psychology lab right now. </p>
<p>What subfield of neuroscience is that?</p>
<p>If I go solely into neuroscience, would I not need to go to med school? What grad school would I go to? And job opportunity?</p>
<p>Wonât a D.O. solve all these problems? Isnât that philosophy leaned more toward the whole body approach?</p>
<p>Straight up neuroscience does not require medical school. It will likely requre a PhD in order to find a professional level career position, though. </p>
<p>A number of schools offer graduate programs in neuroscience/neurobiology. Once you know the mode (cognitive, molecular, behavioral, computational) and subfield youâre interested in then you can start research grad programs to see which would be the best match to your interests.</p>
<p>Obesity is studied under behavioral neuroscience (eating disorders, addiction behaviors), under addiction studies in molecular neuroscience (molecular reward pathways), under neuroendocrinology, and probably some others I canât think of now.</p>
<p>I suggest going to PubMed (or Google Scholar if PubMed is too confusing) and doing a general search using âobesityâ and âneuroscienceâ as your initial search terms. Youâll get several hundred papers as your result. You can refine your search parameters from there.</p>
<p>What about a MD-PhD program? (Or preferably, a DO-PhD program) to provide me opportunity to continue research in neuroscience while also going through the pre-med route?</p>
<p>While there are MD/PhD program, I donât believe there are any DO/PhD programs.</p>
<p>so I think that D.O. would be the best bet, according to what I want? Would I be able to continue neuroscience in med school somehow?</p>
<p>Two words: academic medicine</p>
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<p>This caught my eye. I recently finished up the nutrition component of the preclinical curriculum at my med school, and will continue learning about nutrition during my clinical years. Iâm also a case manager for some adult diabetics. My current research project is about decreasing the prevalence of obesity in preschoolers by teaching them, their parents, and their teachers about healthy diet and lifestyle. My mom, a registered dietitian, is quite familiar with what Iâve learned about nutrition and has never been concerned that what Iâm learning âisnât exactly correct.â </p>
<p>Maybe you could elaborate? I have a feeling you were fed one horror story about nutrition education in med schools and have since sworn off med school altogether. Or maybe youâre working primarily with other pseudoscientists. Or maybe you disagree with the premise that sound research and evidence are crucial to the practice and development of medicine.</p>
<p>Regardless of your position, you will be asked about it over and over and over again while youâre applying. I would encourage you to explore your desires for your career so you can articulate your position clearly. Youâve gotten replies from current med students, parents of current med students, medical librarians, etcâI bet we could help you clarify your position if you want.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>saturated fat is âbadâ
[Is</a> Saturated Fat Healthy? | Markâs Daily Apple](<a href=âIs Saturated Fat Healthy?â>Is Saturated Fat Healthy?)</p></li>
<li><p>whole grains are âgoodâ</p></li>
</ol>
<p>[Why</a> Grains Are Unhealthy | Markâs Daily Apple](<a href=âWhy Grains Are Unhealthyâ>Why Grains Are Unhealthy)</p>
<p>Primary ideas that are advocated by conventional medicine, are they not? Most of them were founded by evidence that was questionable at best.</p>
<p>Well, the thing is, Mark Sisson is a former marathoner, not a scientist or a physician. He has invested considerable time and money into writing and publishing his Primal Blueprint books and materials. Generally speaking, itâs important to be very skeptical of people who present a biased position about an issue they have considerable financial investment in. The Primal Blueprint is not much different from other fad diets, such as the paleo diet or the Atkins diet. Thus, trusting Markâs perspective on saturated fats is questionable at best. </p>
<p>Medicine in the United States is based on facts and evidence that have been proven through a variety of rigorous studies. A quick pubmed search about dietary fats and coronary heart disease yields thousands of hits of peer-reviewed research studies. Hereâs an abstract from a 2012 review article published in the Journal of Internal Medicine:</p>
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<p>The difference between this study and Markâs analysis of trends of decades-old data is incredible, and I personally believe it would be foolish to believe the opinions of a marathoner when compared to the facts aggregated from numerous high-powered research studies.</p>
<p>The fact that the abstract suggests polyunsaturated fats as a substitute is pretty terrifying, if you consider that mono/polyunsaturated fats are HIGHLY unstable and will oxidize very quickly when exposed to heat or light. They become free radicals which cause havoc and further deteriorate health + cause inflammation. You lose all the supposed âheart healthyâ benefits in the process - plus, all those oils are extra processed and basically are destroyed before they even get to your nearby store.</p>
<p>[Lipid</a> peroxidation in culinary oils subjected to thermal stress - Springer](<a href=âhttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02873539]Lipidâ>Lipid peroxidation in culinary oils subjected to thermal stress | SpringerLink)</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that many of those studies you point to are very loosely controlled and depend on mere questionnaires for their findings⊠they donât take into account other lifestyle variables.</p>
<p>jeff,</p>
<p>Sorry for the delay in the response, been busy and didnât want to write in haste.</p>
<p>Smoking doesnât cause lung cancer for lots of people, does that mean smoking isnât associated with lung cancer? Just because there are examples of naturopathy âworkingâ (what exactly does âworkingâ mean?) doesnât mean the effect is real. Until the studies are done you canât really compare it to medicine.</p>
<p>With regard to the dietary stuff, I read the methods of the paper you linked to from the Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry (which Iâm sure is a highly regarded journal), and the study just looks at the levels of cytotoxic aldehydes without proving these cytotoxic aldehydes ever actually enter the cells and cause cytotoxicity. So while Iâm sure cooking causes the increase of aldehydes, that doesnât mean its clinically meaningful. That being said, I still would trust this over the blog where it looks like random red data points are blatantly added to a graph and then a poor understanding of linear regression is used to discount an obviously visible correlation (although even I will be the first to say correlation does not equal causation and a study on total fat intake vs heart disease without much controlling is definitely not particularly powerful).</p>
<p>Nutrition science is difficult for the reasons you mention but the fact still remains that at least nutrition scientists perform experiments. Thatâs more than you can say for naturopaths.</p>
<p>learn something new everyday⊠there are do/phd programs
[do/phd</a> - Google Search](<a href=âdo/phd - Google Searchâ>do/phd - Google Search)</p>
<p>^ and a DVM/PhD MSTP</p>
<p>[Why</a> VMD-PhD Program?](<a href=âhttp://www.vet.upenn.edu/Research/ResearchTrainingOpportunities/VMDPhDProgram/tabid/341/Default.aspx]Whyâ>http://www.vet.upenn.edu/Research/ResearchTrainingOpportunities/VMDPhDProgram/tabid/341/Default.aspx)</p>