PHARMACISTS are being urged to play an active role in helping patients to make healthier nutritional choices, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) believes.
Launching the FIP Nutrition and weight management services: A toolkit for pharmacists last week, University of Sydney School of Pharmacy Faculty of Medicine and Health's Associate Professor Ingrid Gelissen, said it was an area where pharmacists could provide greater support to patients.
"Pharmacists have an opportunity to make an even greater impact on the health of their communities by involving nutrition and weight management as a vital component of their approach to patient care," she said.
"This toolkit aims to provide support and guidance for pharmacists to be proactive in having conversations on diet and weight with their patients, and we encourage more of the profession to adopt these services."
FIP Practice Development and Transformation Lead, Goncalo Sousa Pinto, added that "poor diets are responsible for more deaths than any other behavioural risk factor, including tobacco smoking".
"Up to five million deaths per year could be prevented if populations were more physically active," he said.
"Pharmacists, while primarily trained to promote health through pharmacological means, are ideally placed to help people to improve their nutrition and manage their weight because their easy, frequent accessibility means they can be on hand to help people maintain lifestyle changes, which is something people often find most difficult."
The toolkit aims to equip pharmacists with general nutritional knowledge and weight management strategies to empower them to make a greater impact on the health of their communities.
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