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Clinicians toolkit

With input from medical experts and dietitians, Doctors For Nutrition have designed a range of educational and practical resources for clinicians. If you are wanting to include nutritional approaches to disease prevention and care, the guide and accompanying resources are for you.

Plant-based nutrition and health: a guide for health professionals

Our 12-page guide aims to support clinicians to incorporate nutritional approaches into patient care.

In just 10 minutes, you’ll be informed about the benefits of shifting to a more whole food plant-based eating pattern, how it is linked to reduced rates of chronic disease and the range of positive outcomes for those who adopt these changes. It provides evidence-based guidance on healthy, sustainable eating patterns. Access your free digital download here:

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Toolkit for clinicians

We have developed a complete toolkit to support health professionals to incorporate nutritional approaches into patient care.

Freely available for digital download, the toolkit includes:

  • A 12-page colour guide for health professionals
  • A colour poster to display in clinic
  • A dietary assessment survey
  • Patient handouts

If you are a health professional, or would like to provide these tools to your GP or other healthcare provider, you can access them here:

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Clinicians Toolkit HCP

Guide references

Sources cited in Doctors For Nutrition’s 2020 publication:
Plant-based nutrition and health: A guide for health professionals.

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  7. Food Frontier and Life Health Foods, 2019. Hungry for plant-based: Australian consumer insights. Colmar Brunton. foodfrontier.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Hungry-For-Plant-Based-Australian-Consumer-Insights-Oct-2019.pdf Food Frontier and Life Health Foods, 2019. Hungry for plant-based: New Zealand consumer insights. Colmar Brunton. foodfrontier.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Hungry-For-Plant-Based-New-Zealand-Consumer-Insights-Oct-2019.pdf
  8. Australian Bureau of Statistics. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-conditions-and-risks/dietary-behaviour/2020-21
  9. Drew J, Cleghorn C, Macmillan A, Mizdrak A. Healthy and Climate-Friendly Eating Patterns in the New Zealand Context. Environ Health Perspect. 2020;128(1):17007. doi:10.1289/EHP5996
  10. Tuso PJ, Ismail MH, Ha BP, Bartolotto C. Nutritional update for physicians: plant-based diets. Perm J. 2013;17(2):61-66. doi:10.7812/TPP/12-085
  11. Melina V, Craig W, Levin S. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2016;116(12):1970-1980. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2016.09.025
  12. Kim H, Caulfield LE, Garcia‐Larsen V, Steffen LM, Coresh J, Rebholz CM. Plant‐Based Diets Are Associated With a Lower Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease, Cardiovascular Disease Mortality, and All‐Cause Mortality in a General Population of Middle‐Aged Adults. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2019;8(16). doi:10.1161/jaha.119.012865
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  15. Qian F, Liu G, Hu FB, Bhupathiraju SN, Sun Q. Association Between Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Intern Med. July 2019. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.2195
  16. Tonstad S, Stewart K, Oda K, Batech M, Herring RP, Fraser GE. Vegetarian diets and incidence of diabetes in the Adventist Health Study-2. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2013;23(4):292-299. doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2011.07.004
  17. Barnard ND, Cohen J, Jenkins DJA, et al. A Low-Fat Vegan Diet Improves Glycemic Control and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Randomized Clinical Trial in Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2006;29(8):1777-1783. doi:10.2337/dc06-0606
  18. Le LT, Sabaté J. Beyond meatless, the health effects of vegan diets: findings from the Adventist cohorts. Nutrients. 2014;6(6):2131-2147. doi:10.3390/nu6062131
  19. Matsumoto S, Beeson WL, Shavlik DJ, et al. Association between vegetarian diets and cardiovascular risk factors in non-Hispanic white participants of the Adventist Health Study-2. J Nutr Sci. 2019;8:e6. doi:10.1017/jns.2019.1
  20. Wright N, Wilson L, Smith M, Duncan B, McHugh P. The BROAD study: A randomised controlled trial using a whole food plant-based diet in the community for obesity, ischaemic heart disease or diabetes. Nutrition & Diabetes. 2017;7(3):e256-e256. doi:10.1038/nutd.2017.3
  21. Hastert TA, Beresford SAA, Patterson RE, Kristal AR, White E. Adherence to WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013;22(9):1498-1508. doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-13-0210
  22. Ornish D, Weidner G, Fair WR, et al. Intensive lifestyle changes may affect the progression of prostate cancer. J Urol. 2005;174(3):1065-1069; discussion 1069-1070. doi:10.1097/01.ju.0000169487.49018.73
  23. Bouvard V, Loomis D, Guyton KZ, et al. Carcinogenicity of consumption of red and processed meat. Lancet Oncol. 2015;16(16):1599-1600. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(15)00444-1
  24. La J, Roberts NH, Yafi FA. Diet and Men’s Sexual Health. Sexual Medicine Reviews. 2018;6(1):54-68. doi:10.1016/j.sxmr.2017.07.004
  25. Towe M, La J, El-Khatib F, Roberts N, Yafi FA, Rubin R. Diet and Female Sexual Health. Sexual Medicine Reviews. 2020;8(2):256-264. doi:10.1016/j.sxmr.2019.08.004
  26. David LA, Maurice CF, Carmody RN, et al. Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome. Nature. 2014;505(7484):559-563. doi:10.1038/nature12820
  27. Clinton CM, O’Brien S, Law J, Renier CM, Wendt MR. Whole-foods, plant-based diet alleviates the symptoms of osteoarthritis. Arthritis. 2015;2015:708152. doi:10.1155/2015/708152
  28. McDougall J, Bruce B, Spiller G, Westerdahl J, McDougall M. Effects of a very low-fat, vegan diet in subjects with rheumatoid arthritis. J Altern Complement Med. 2002;8(1):71-75. doi:10.1089/107555302753507195
  29. Blanchflower DG, Oswald AJ, Stewart-Brown S. Is Psychological Well-Being Linked to the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables? Soc Indic Res. 2013;114(3):785-801. jstor.org/stable/24720280
  30. Schwingshackl L, Schwedhelm C, Galbete C, Hoffmann G. Adherence to Mediterranean Diet and Risk of Cancer: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2017;9(10). doi:10.3390/nu9101063
  31. Schwingshackl L, Bogensberger B, Hoffmann G. Diet Quality as Assessed by the Healthy Eating Index, Alternate Healthy Eating Index, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Score, and Health Outcomes: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2018;118(1):74-100.e11. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2017.08.024
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  33. Rizzo NS, Jaceldo-Siegl K, Sabate J, Fraser GE. Nutrient profiles of vegetarian and nonvegetarian dietary patterns. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2013;113(12):1610-1619. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2013.06.349
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  35. Young VR, Pellett PL. Plant proteins in relation to human protein and amino acid nutrition. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1994;59(5):1203S – 1212S. doi:10.1093/ajcn/59.5.1203s
  36. McDougall J. Plant Foods Have a Complete Amino Acid Composition. Circulation. 2002;105(25). doi:10.1161/01.cir.0000018905.97677.1f
  37. Tucker KL, Rich S, Rosenberg I, et al. Plasma vitamin B-12 concentrations relate to intake source in the Framingham Offspring study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;71(2):514-522. doi:10.1093/ajcn/71.2.514
  38. Saunders AV, Craig WJ, Baines SK, Posen JS. Iron and vegetarian diets. The Medical Journal of Australia.2012;1(2):11-16. doi:10.5694/mjao11.11494
  39. Harvard Health Publishing. How much calcium do you really need? – Harvard Health. Harvard Health. health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-much-calcium-do-you-really-need
  40. Willett WC, Ludwig DS. Milk and Health. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(7):644-654. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1903547
  41. Nowson CA, Margerison C. Vitamin D intake and vitamin D status of Australians. Med J Aust. 2002;177(3):149-152. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12149085
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