Virtuous medicine
A journalist from a German daily newspaper chose the subtitle "From the moral commandment to alternative medicine" for a summary of his impressions of last year's European Congress for Integrative Medicine [1]. The message: Let us use the innovations of conventional medicine together with the successful aspects of 'alternative' methods.
Undoubtedly, one has to agree. Scientific medicine has redefined the concept of 'personalized medicine'. It sets out to provide patients with bespoke treatments matching the personal genome. Nevertheless, two-thirds of cancer patients and even more with trivial complaints try to alleviate their ailments with 'alternative' methods. The amount spent on these methods is considerable. The use of the so-called integrative approach is expanding, among others in research. It is being supported by the NIH, as confirmed recently by the director Francis Collins, himself a geneticist, with the same intensity as research in the field of genetics.
Indeed, it is important to build bridges, bridges that are the road to knowledge on a molecular basis in all areas of medical research. All approaches ''need to be subjected to the same kind of rigorous evaluation to understand what works and what does not'' (Collins, www.medscape.com/viewarticle/753544). This objective is supported by the strategy of MNF, which provides an international forum to this goal. The investigation of the molecular basis for the effect of components of our diet -which through globalization is becoming more and more ethnically diverse -does have certain implications for patients. This is due to the fact that in the past, only beneficial aspects have been considered for 'alternative' methods.
Disregarding special cases, e.g. contaminations, food ingredients -if prepared and ingested in a traditional