More and more Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) are incorporating nutrition into their practices due to the patient’s desire to be better educated in nutritional and dietary recommendations.

According to the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE), chiropractic is based on the premise that the body is able to achieve and maintain health through its own recuperative powers. But this belief also requires that the body have a properly functioning nervous system and receives necessary health maintenance, including adequate nutrition, water, rest, exercise and clean air.

Because of this, many chiropractors join the Council on Nutrition, whose mission is “to encourage and promote a more advanced knowledge and use of nutrition in the practice of chiropractic for the maintenance of health and the prevention of disease.”

NBCE indicates that as many as 97 percent of chiropractors now give nutritional and dietary recommendations, making nutrition an integral part of chiropractic health. Many chiropractors find that their patients are nutritionally deficient and that nutritional care is often the answer for many, and can help improve other aspects of one’s overall well-being. Chiropractors are reliable sources of information for patients and a wealth of referral knowledge.

Chiropractors believe that their patients have to take responsibility for their overall health and well-being, thus many chiropractors go above and beyond with their patients by providing exercise recommendations, dietary guidance, health-risk avoidance advice and wellness counseling.