Metabolic medicine

Metabolic medicine involves the care of patients with a wide range of long-term conditions which demand considerable expertise to achieve disease control and improve quality of life. The five areas included in metabolic medicine training are: disorders of nutrition including obesity, inborn errors of metabolism, lipid metabolism and cardiovascular risk assessment, disorders of calcium and bone, and diabetes mellitus.

Some of the conditions involved are very common, for example, osteoporosis and diabetes. Others are extremely rare inherited diseases where affected patients who would have previously died in childhood are now surviving into adulthood.

Metabolic medicine is a subspecialty of either chemical pathology or general internal medicine (GIM). Chemical pathologists with subspecialty training in metabolic medicine would lead a full clinical and laboratory biochemistry service and provide clinics in one or two of the metabolic medicine areas. Those trained in GIM with metabolic medicine would generally be expected to play a leading role in the provision of GIM services, including acute admissions, in addition to providing clinics in one or two metabolic medicine areas.

Related RCP publications

• Consultant physicians working with patients, fourth edition, 2008
• Nutrition and patients: a doctor's responsibility (2002)

Specialty training

For information about specialty training in metabolic medicine, go to the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Postgraduate Training Board (JRCPTB) website.

Specialist societies

• British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN)
• Nutrition Society

Patient information

• National Information Centre for Metabolic Diseases