A Paediatric Nutritionist
– Dr. Jaraspong Uaariyapanichkul –
Children who receive good nutrition are more likely to lead healthier and more robust lives. However, not every child is born with a body that can process nutrients normally. This is where the work of a medical nutritionist like Dr Jaraspong Uaariyapanichkul, or “Dr Eid,” becomes essential. As a paediatrician specialising in child nutrition at the Paediatric Department of BNH Hospital, he works to provide a critical missing piece of care, ensuring a sustainable and better quality of life for his young patients.
Role Models from Family
If you mention Prof. Dr Kamthorn Pruksananonda, a renowned OB-GYN specialising in fertility, many in the medical community will know him well. For Dr Eid, this doctor is both a close uncle and the key inspiration for his own medical career.
“He is a kind and calm person. Seeing him work and look so happy helping patients made me want to become a doctor.”
Already an excellent student, especially in biology and English, he passed the university entrance exam straight out of high school from Saint Gabriel’s College. He entered the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn Hospital as the youngest student in his cohort.
Once in medical school, Dr Eid found the most joy in working with children, believing that if you take good care of a child’s health, you help them grow into a strong adult. His aunt, Assoc Prof Dr Chanatita Pruksananonda, an expert in child development, and his uncle, Dr Prasong Pruksananonda, a paediatric infectious disease specialist, also served as vital role models. Their compassionate approach to caring for children helped him decide to become a paediatrician before he even finished his final year of medical school.
After three years of medical service in Chanthaburi, he chose to focus on paediatrics, spending two of those years in the department to gain full experience. He then pursued a paediatric specialisation at Chulalongkorn Hospital. However, due to his personal dislike of invasive procedures, he chose to further specialise in nutrition. It was a perfect fit, as it was a field with few professionals in Thailand and aligned with his own interests.
“Paediatric nutrition is a field that requires delicacy, understanding, and patience. I like it because I feel I can use my knowledge to directly treat disease while also promoting health, and the results are clear. It also suits me because I love to eat, and my family loves to eat, too. I understand how difficult it is when you have dietary restrictions.”
Dr Eid views his work as an unsung hero of medicine, or in Thai, gilding the back of a Buddha image—a metaphor for doing good work humbly and without seeking recognition. Most of his work is supportive treatment that complements other medical interventions. For example, an infected patient will recover with standard treatment even without vitamin supplements, but they may be more prone to relapse or recover more slowly. This often leads to the field being seen as less crucial than other specialities in Thailand.
“This work is still quite rare in Thailand. We are different from nutritionists who only look at diet. A medical nutritionist can also prescribe medication, vitamins, and supplements, as well as administer nutrition intravenously. While some professionals in this field work in public health or private research labs, very few actually care for patients in a clinical setting, and even fewer for children.”
Since beginning his subspecialisation in paediatric nutrition, Dr Eid worked part-time in the BNH Hospital emergency department. After serving as a professor at Chulalongkorn Hospital for seven years, he continued to be a part-time paediatrician at BNH Hospital before eventually joining full-time.
“I have always been impressed with BNH Hospital, especially with their policy focused on disease prevention and Complete Care for the maximum benefit of the patient. From a nutritional standpoint, this is exactly what my work is all about—a partnership for sustainable health that helps children grow up strong and happy.”
Nutrition: The Behind-the-Scenes Work
If someone feels depressed, the first thought is to see a psychiatrist. But from the perspective of a medical nutritionist, Dr Eid believes that psychological symptoms can sometimes stem from a lack of nutrients, such as vitamins. Supplementing them correctly can help doctors determine if a condition is truly a mental disorder. For example, patients with a vitamin D deficiency often have a high rate of depressive symptoms.
“Based on my experience, I’ll first ask if they’ve taken any vitamins. It’s easier and less intimidating than seeing a psychiatrist, which people might feel is a big step. Sometimes, it’s truly a case of not seeing the forest for the trees. Many people in Bangkok are vitamin D deficient because they don’t get much sun. I recommend they take a supplement, and it’s clear their mood improves, they feel more refreshed, and they get sick less often.”
A crucial part of paediatric nutrition is ensuring children receive enough nutrients for proper growth and development. However, many children are born with limitations that prevent them from absorbing essential nutrients, such as those with metabolic genetic disorders.
“From the outside, you can’t tell that these patients have this condition. For example, a baby may become lethargic and have seizures just days after birth due to problems digesting proteins. When they eat, the food turns into toxins in their body, leading to these symptoms. If we don’t diagnose it and they continue to eat as usual, they may die within a few months or grow up with developmental delays. These rare disease patients are the ones I am most impressed to have cared for. If we can diagnose the problem quickly, stop them from consuming the toxic proteins, and provide nutritional therapy with a special formula without the proteins or amino acids they can’t digest, they can grow and live a life close to that of a normal person.”
Dr Eid also provides a medical ketogenic diet to children to control seizures that don’t respond to medication.
Another case where the patient became Dr Eid‘s teacher was with a boy named Nong Tajo, born without an abdominal wall. His liver, spleen, stomach, and intestines were all outside his body. This was a severe case Dr Eid helped manage during his time at Chulalongkorn Hospital. The boy couldn’t eat normally and had to receive complete nutrients intravenously to support his development during a difficult period of treatment. His mother documented his story on the Facebook page ‘Having a Child as a Teacher,’ and after multiple surgeries, the boy can now live a life as close to normal as possible.
“I have cared for many patients who cannot absorb food normally and need intravenous nutrition, including patients who have had their intestines removed and have short bowel syndrome. We have to carefully calculate their nutrients, prevent infection, and enable them to go home, live their lives, and even swim. It significantly improves a child’s quality of life. For these cases, we have to work closely with gastroenterologists and surgeons.”
Dr Eid believes that any disease must be treated holistically. If a patient is at nutritional risk, it may cause them to get sick again. He views this as especially important for children, as their physical, mental, and social development are all linked to the nutrients they receive.
“When communicating the necessity of nutrients to children, I don’t tell them what they can’t eat. Instead, I tell them what they can eat and what they can’t, and if they can have this instead of that. For example, instead of a fried egg, they might have a steamed egg to manage their weight. I make small adjustments so they don’t feel forced. In my experience, this is often more effective. Nutrition is a flexible science, and I try to make it a practical way of life for them.”
A Food Lover's Life Balance
Another reason Dr Eid became a medical nutritionist is his deep love for food.
“My family loves to go on food tours. But recently, my father has had issues with high blood pressure and diabetes. I now understand the anxiety of families with sick children who can’t eat and are underweight, even though they just want to live and eat happily.”
Because he loves to eat, one of his go-to activities for maintaining a balanced life is taking food tours while travelling.
“The place where I was most impressed by nature was Iceland. I was driving with my mother at the time. When you are truly with nature, you let go of your worries. I also felt that our world is vast and there is so much more to learn. The locals in towns without big buildings live in harmony with nature, and the local food is incredibly fresh. There aren’t many places, but they are authentic local restaurants, not chains.”
Dr Eid usually travels abroad once or twice a year. Of course, finding that much time is not easy for a doctor. He often extends his time off when travelling for training or academic conferences. When he travels, he plans the trips himself in detail and always takes his mother with him.
“My mother is over 70, but she can still walk. In the past, we went on tours, but you can’t explore in as much depth. I like my freedom, so I prefer to travel and plan on my own. I can stay as long as I want, but the route has to be manageable for my mother. She even says that as long as she can still walk, she will go with me. Whenever I get the chance, I always take my mother travelling.”
He would love to travel with his whole family, but with his father’s diabetes and his aunt’s cancer, it is often just him and his mother. Still, Dr Eid uses his nutritional expertise to care for his family members who have more limitations than normal people, ensuring they receive the appropriate nutrients for their health and helping them fight the diseases they are facing. He has even used these nutritional principles to care for himself.
“When I was a professor at Chulalongkorn Hospital, I was in an academic field. I focused on my work, research, and teaching medical students and didn’t really take care of myself. Then I got a serious case of COVID and recovered slowly. I felt quite burnt out at that time. When my body was weak, I got tested and found out I was vitamin D deficient. And here I was, a nutritionist, who was deficient! After that, I took vitamin supplements and truly felt I recovered faster and was more refreshed.”
“Patients like to call me a ‘vitamin doctor,’ but I want to be seen as a ‘nutrition doctor.’ I want people to understand that nutrition doesn’t just affect growth in terms of weight and height; it also affects health maintenance and disease prevention.”
The duty that Dr Eid fulfills may be a small part of a child’s care, and it may not drastically change a person’s life like in other fields. But it is a crucial factor that makes a patient smile wider with a better quality of life and grow up more completely with the care of this doctor who truly understands them.
ทำนัดหมายแพทย์ออนไลน์ | Appointment
JARASPONG UAARIYAPANICHKUL, M.D.
นพ. จรัสพงศ์ เอื้ออริยะพานิชกุล
Speciality
Pediatrics
Pediatric Nutrition
Education
Medical Degree, Doctor of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Board and Sub board Certification
The Medical Council of Thailand, Pediatric Nutrition
The Medical Council of Thailand, Pediatrics
Certificate
Orientation BNH, BNH Hospital, Thailand
Orientation, BDMS
Language
English
Thai
Gender
Male
Schedule
Pediatrics Department
| Day | Time |
|---|---|
| Monday | - |
| Tuesday | 07:00 - 17:00 |
| Wednesday | 12:00 - 19:00 |
| Thursday | 07:00 - 16:00 |
| Friday | 12:00 - 19:00 |
| Saturday | 12:00 - 19:00 |
| Sunday | - |
This is the doctor's regular weekly schedule. Actual availability may vary — please confirm the available date and time when you make an appointment.