Arjuna B. Medagama Email author Nutrition Journal201514:108 DOI: 10.1186/s12937-015-0098-9 ©  Medagama. 2015

Recent estimates show that over 80 % of people living in developing countries depend on Complimentary Alternative Medicine for treatment of health conditions [9]. In the United States an increase of 380 % is seen in the use of herbal remedies [13]. The economic burden of CAMs is substantial, with the UK population in 2001 having spent an estimated 340 million pounds on CAMs [14]. More recently in 2013, Herman estimates the cost of Complementary and Integrative Medicine (CIM) in the US to be 34 billion dollars [15].

Integrative medicine is a new discipline of medicine that combines conventional medicine with evidence-based complementary medicines. Patients with diabetes are increasingly eager to be part of their disease management and keen to try out integrative strategies that involve lifestyle changes and self management [16].

Food as medicine is still the quickest direct route to wellness. Now we’re just going to prove it to ourselves all over again.