Interview with Dr Schelkshorn, an internist specialised in diabetology and metabolic diseases in Austria

Dr Christian Schelkshorn, an internist practising in Austria, explains why he supports Bleu-Blanc-Coeur.

Can you introduce yourself?

What is your perception on the health status of the Austrian people?

I think that the Austrian population does not differ significantly from other central European citizens. The main topics are: being overweight, lack of exercise and sport and also, in the focus, the topic of the nutrition. The malnutrition may not have been settled into the health awareness of our people. 8-10% of Austrian population are already suffering from diabetes. Of course, especially in my field of diabetology, nutrition is a main factor to reach a positive outcome of the therapy.

How did you get to know about the Bleu-Blanc-Coeur project and why have you decided to support it?

It is pretty unusual that the Bleu-Blanc-Coeur project was not brought to me by literature, journals or publications but that I was told about it by friends & personal contacts. They asked if I have heard about it and I thought that this will be just another of the countless nutrition projects that appear everywhere. But Bleu-Blanc-Coeur is French and most of us know how focused the French people are on what they eat. At least this is how we perceive it. I thought this project will only be active in France but when I had a closer look I found that it is already a big topic in Eastern Europe, also in Southern Europe and the Benelux countries too. It is already established in so many countries and for me, who is not only involved in nutrition from a personal point but also from a professional point of view, this raised the question: Why don’t we already have that in Austria as well? And so I started to step deeper into this topic.

How do you think Bleu-Blanc-Coeur can be a solution to your previous observation on Austrian health needs?

I don’t believe that there is a simple solution for any of the problems regarding nutrition. In Austria, there are already numerous « ways of a healthy nutrition », may it be organic food or anything else. We do have those things but according to my experience, Bleu-Blanc-Coeur works on a different level. These products can find their place in many different areas. The questions that we work on with our mainly diabetes patients are: how can I make my insulin more effective? how can I improve my triglycerides? All those problems are hard to treat with medicines. In this field, nutrition might be a simple solution but in the ream world setting it is a very complicated situation strategy and hereby this nutrition support could be an opportunity to establish in Austria as well, I think this might be a successful point. Establishing support for patients via nutrition in Austria looks very promising to me.

What advice do you give the most in your daily consultations and could share today with our readers?

The topic of nutrition comes up each time. I don’t like to talk about diets, as diet has a negative perception. But luckily conscious nutrition came more into the people’s focus within the last couple of years. But what is conscious nutrition? Conscious nutrition usually also means a focus on high quality food. But we have to be aware that this also includes an aspect of training and education every day for all of us, and especially our patients, not only the ones already suffering from diabetes. I believe that besides physical activity, nutrition is a main thing that everybody can work on for his/her personal health. If there would be a number of options which would be reasonable with regard to price and realizable in everyday life, this would help a lot to integrate conscious nutrition into everybody’s daily routine.