Celebrity doctor and GP Dr Rangan Chatterjee, from the BBC’s Doctor in the House, says he believes health stores are a vital resource in the fight against chronic disease.
In an interview at Natural & Organic Products Europe, Viridian founder and MD, Cheryl Thallon, asked Chatterjee his views on how the health food store and GP relationship could be formalized to signpost patients towards the health shops.
“If the NHS is going to cope with all this chronic disease, of which a large part is driven by lifestyle, we need to start utilizing the resources that exist, and I think health shops are one of those,” he said.
If the NHS is going to cope with all this chronic disease, of which a large part is driven by lifestyle, we need to start utilising the resources that exist, and I think health shops are one of those
“For years we’ve recognized that lifestyle has a role in preventing illness, but what I’m trying to get across is that lifestyle can actually be used to help treat and in some cases, reverse illness, and I think that’s the missing link. As this (lifestyle medicine) movement grows, we are going to build more and more collaborations with nutritional therapists, with health food stores, with nutritionists and all kinds of other areas.”
Chatterjee was guest of honour on the Viridian Nutrition stand, where over 100 health store owners and staff gathered to chat and have their photos taken with him while he signed copies of his new book The 4 Pillar Plan, which is being distributed into specialist independent health food stores by Viridian.
