The practice of nutritional medicine includes several main components, the relative importance of which varies from one patient to another.

For most patients, nutritional therapy starts with “cleaning up the diet” by emphasizing a wide variety of whole, unprocessed foods and minimizing intake of refined sugars, other refined carbohydrates, trans fatty acids, food additives, and other undesirable constituents of a typical Western diet.

Restricting the use of salt, caffeine, and alcohol is also important for some individuals. In addition, emphasizing cooking methods that minimize the formation of potentially toxic compounds (such as cholesterol oxides, lipid peroxides, and advanced glycation end products) may be beneficial.

Nutritional therapy also includes the use of a wide array of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, and other naturally occurring compounds, individualized according to the patient’s needs.

This “natural pharmacopoeia” stands alongside the conventional pharmacopoeia of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Depending on the clinical situation, these natural substances can be used as an adjunct or an alternative to conventional medicine.

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