Exemplary medical care or Trojan horse? An analysis of the 'lifestyle medicine' movement.
Abstrak
The rise of non-communicable diseases, many of which share common risk factors of smoking, alcohol, poor diet, and physical inactivity, has resulted in calls to develop and expand lifestyle medicine, giving ‘hope to those suffering from chronic illness’ (https://bslm.org.uk/). It has been argued that lifestyle medicine should be recognised as a new medical specialty,1 with primary care leading. There are numerous drivers for lifestyle medicine (Box 1). Our analysis does not aim to argue against the importance of these drivers as many of them are well informed. Instead we seek to balance existing discussions with aspects that, in our opinion, have been less well considered. With this in mind, we focus on the unintended consequences of uncritical endorsement and application of lifestyle medicine including the infiltration of pseudoscience, profiteering, and the potential for widening health inequalities by a continued focus on the ‘individual’. We stress the need for greater attention to public health and community-level interventions and a more critical approach to current practice.
Topik & Kata Kunci
Penulis (3)
D. Nunan
D. Blane
M. McCartney
Akses Cepat
- Tahun Terbit
- 2021
- Bahasa
- en
- Total Sitasi
- 13×
- Sumber Database
- Semantic Scholar
- DOI
- 10.3399/bjgp21X715721
- Akses
- Open Access ✓