Meet Anaesthetist and ASLM Fellow Dr Wolf Kremer
ASLM Member Spotlights showcase the invaluable work that ASLM Fellows, ASLM Accredited Doctors and Practitioners, and member ambassadors are doing to establish Lifestyle Medicine as central to health, healthcare and health policy. ASLM members represent a broad range of medical and health practitioners as well as passionate professionals working in health and wellbeing who believe that and interdisciplinary and lifestyle-centric approach should be considered when it comes to the prevention and management of chronic and lifestyle-related disease.
What is your background?
I am a medical specialist / anaesthetist, practising in rural NZ. Before that I practised as a cardiac anaesthetist in the USA, Germany and Switzerland. I never received any formal training in Lifestyle Medicine-related matters.
How did you come to Lifestyle Medicine?
My wife watched the film “Forks over Knives” and subsequently claimed that arteriosclerosis can be reversed. As a former cardiac anaesthetist, I reassured her that she was wrong and I was correct – because in years of medical training and two fellowships in cardiac anaesthesia no one ever pointed this out to me. Arteriosclerosis cannot be reversed! But Mark Twain once said: It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. So a very humbling review of the relevant literature ensued and as a result, many of the dogmas of contemporary medicine started to reveal themselves as anecdotal beliefs rather than actual facts.
Why did you choose to join the ASLM?
I conducted a root cause analysis of the problems in contemporary health care systems. Lifestyle Medicine in general and applied human nutrition specifically is the number one modifiable risk factor for health loss. It represents the lowest hanging fruit in all healthcare. But it is not taught in medical schools at large, it is mostly ignored in post-graduate medical training and governing bodies like the MCNZ have far more important matters to attend to. So we have a healthcare industry that does not care about food – and we have a food industry that does not care about health. No surprise that we are far from a sustainable health care system, which is – as it is – functionally closer to a disease management enterprise. This constellation prompted me to do the obvious and undertake systematic training in Lifestyle Medicine. I simply don’t like blind people talking about colours…
How has, or how do you envisage this influencing your career/direction?
Being a medical specialist – or GP for what it’s worth – is closer to an anti-advertisement when it comes to applied human nutrition.1 I have written letters to the NZ Minister of Health, the Health NZ Long Term Conditions Management Team, the CEO of the former Bay of Plenty DHB, the COO, the chief medical officer, the local Member Of Parliament and our mayor – pretty much to anybody except Santa at this point. I provided the finest of evidence on how to improve health outcomes while saving money at the same time.2 I got ZERO traction over the years that I have been trying. So by becoming FASLM, maybe I do set myself apart from all the others that share their ideas of what needs to be done to turn things for the better. We do NOT need more doctors, do NOT need more nurses, do NOT need more hospitals, do NOT need more money – frankly because those resources are not there. We DO need fewer patients! And then our current health care infrastructure will suffice. But in order to get there we must implement what we currently know about health & disease right now – and NOT wait for more research. Does that remind you of Greta Thunberg on climate change? So I hope that Fellowship with ASLM gives more weight to my arguments and that eventually some stake holders may want to hear the message, that they have so far chosen to ignore.
Any advice for health professionals who are interested in Lifestyle Medicine but not yet members?
Micro RNAs have just attracted the limelight in this year’s Nobel Prize Awards.3 It may be decades before there will be any pharmaceutical implementation of this technology. But we are already affecting our health with these short strands of molecules and have been for millions of years. The food we eat is laden with exosomes!4,5 So while the average clinician appears to be stuck in chapter one of the Book of Genetics, the human genome, I encourage everyone to read beyond and open the chapters of epigenetics and microRNAs. And while you are reading, you are studying Lifestyle Medicine. Why is protein the most dangerous and critical macronutrient when you want to age in health?6,7 Why can dairy be considered the biggest cancer promoter in humans?8,9 Why does a methionine-restricted diet lead to greater healthspan and lifespan?10 Lifestyle Medicine has been the most exciting journey in my career.
Please tell us a random fact about yourself
There is a huge misunderstanding about evolution that appears to bob to the surface in most discussions about human nutrition. Evolution was driven by the concept of “survival of the species” and NOT “longevity of the individual”. On a molecular level, these two concepts are diametrically opposed. Growing old fast means being able to procreate earlier in life – hence eating animals (animal protein) was an evolutionary advantage.11 Most of my patients are in the “live fast – die young” category and are past their procreation phase and hence – from an evolutionary perspective – surplus to requirements. The dilemma: they want to get old in health too… Make an informed decision – and then choose wisely!
About the photo
The picture was taken in Germany at the Wildlife Park Hellenthal. All their birds of prey get released to fly at least once every day. Only the birds decide when to come back.
- Crowley J, Ball L, Hiddink GJ. Nutrition in medical education: a systematic review. Lancet Planet Health. 2019 Sep;3(9):e379-e389. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(19)30171-8. PMID: 31538623.
- https://plantricianproject.org/healing-healthcare-guide
- https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/
- Melnik BC, Schmitz G. Exosomes of pasteurized milk: potential pathogens of Western diseases. J Transl Med. 2019 Jan 3;17(1):3. doi: 10.1186/s12967-018-1760-8. PMID: 30602375; PMCID: PMC6317263.
- Xiao J, Feng S, Wang X, Long K, Luo Y, Wang Y, Ma J, Tang Q, Jin L, Li X, Li M. Identification of exosome-like nanoparticle-derived microRNAs from 11 edible fruits and vegetables. PeerJ. 2018 Jul 31;6:e5186. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5186. PMID: 30083436; PMCID: PMC6074755.
- Kitada M, Ogura Y, Monno I, Koya D. The impact of dietary protein intake on longevity and metabolic health. EBioMedicine. 2019 May;43:632-640. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.04.005. Epub 2019 Apr 8. PMID: 30975545; PMCID: PMC6562018.
- Greger, Michael. How Not to Age. Flatiron Books, 2023.
- https://nutritionstudies.org/provocations-dairy-protein-causes-cancer/
- Melnik BC. Lifetime Impact of Cow’s Milk on Overactivation of mTORC1: From Fetal to Childhood Overgrowth, Acne, Diabetes, Cancers, and Neurodegeneration. Biomolecules. 2021 Mar 9;11(3):404. doi: 10.3390/biom11030404. PMID: 33803410; PMCID: PMC8000710.
- McCarty MF, Barroso-Aranda J, Contreras F. The low-methionine content of vegan diets may make methionine restriction feasible as a life extension strategy. Med Hypotheses. 2009 Feb;72(2):125-8. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2008.07.044. Epub 2008 Sep 11. PMID: 18789600.
- Daniel H. Dietary proteins: from evolution to engineering. Front Nutr. 2024 Feb 16;11:1366174. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1366174. PMID: 38435096; PMCID: PMC10907992.
This member spotlight has been written for the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM) by the documented original author. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the original author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the ASLM or its Board.
