What's Your Anatomy and Physiology IQ?

If you are a healthcare professional, back in the beginning of your education you had to take a few core science courses:  Anatomy and physiology, microbiology, biochemistry etc.  Some of you may have soaked up certain classes and others maybe wondered when would you ever use this stuff again?  My favorite classes- anatomy/physiology and nutritional biochemistry.  My least favorite - organic chemistry and microbiology. I remember thinking, “Gram staining bacteria in a lab—when will I use those skills?”  And, what does nutrition have to do with microbiology?   Me now—“Well, pretty much everything- micro and nutrition.”   With all of the work I do with the gut microbiome—I have to smile at my narrow mindedness back then. Now, I’d probably love gram staining bacteria because the context is much more meaningful. So much of our learning curve is emboldened by experience.

Those Core Courses and System Biology

Systems biology is a term used loosely, especially online. In reality, systems biology is almost a discipline in itself.  It’s a methodical and mathematical approach to any biological system, not just with humans. Because medicine is divided into disciplines: cardiology, neurology etc., we may forget the principles of systems biology. Although we need some organization and areas of specialties, including in nutrition, nothing in the body occurs in isolation.  All systems are communicating. This is how health is maintained and how disease occurs. But nutritionists, must be careful of limiting knowledge of the entirety of the body, especially in areas of specialities. And for those who don’t specialize to be careful of shying away from certain topics— for example, automatically referring out anything to do with the kidney to a “renal dietitian”. BTW, I love renal RDs and yes, there are times we may need to refer to a specialist.

Understanding anatomy and physiology, in other words, structure and function of each system is imperative to understanding system biology and ultimately being an effective and knowledgeable nutritionist.

Titles and Labels Vs Philosophy of Practice

As a functional RD and RN, I value my functional nutrition training, however, we must be cautious that the labeling and training doesn’t lose sight of the principles. Functional nutrition/medicine reflects function of the body and demands a knowledge of structure and function—anatomy and physiology.  The terms integrative and holistic certainly hold value too—integrative meaning bringing together two things that are separate.  Holistic is a bit closer to a systems biology meaning— the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and all parts communicate.

As nutritionists, however, our work with the body and health issues covers a lot of ground— digestion and absorption of food, or heart and the vast circulatory network or the kidney and urinary health or the brain and the nervous system. We can’t walk the walk with this information without knowing the lay of the land of all of these systems. There really is no faking it. We do our clients no favors by only skimming the body parts.  A renal patient may very well have GI issues, cardiovascular disease and dementia. 

We may want to separate ourselves as food and nutrient experts—but if we don’t know what happens once food enters the body—or what its components do when they enter the liver, —or how the kidney is designed to filter , we are short changing our clinical care.  

Maintaining a strong knowledge base of the body, hands down will make you a better practitioner because it enables you to get to that root cause, assess signs and symptoms and confidently interpret labs with your clients.  Plus, it makes your work all that more fascinating. 

Whatever term you call yourself as a nutritionist, know your anatomy and physiology. It allows you to see the whole a bit clearer, which directly leads to better nutrition care.

---