Nutrition Should Play Bigger Role in Medical Training, Panel Asserts

Washington Post (10/14/24) McMahan, Ian

An expert panel is calling for the inclusion of more nutrition education for medical students and physician trainees. In a consensus statement published in JAMA Network Open, more than three dozen medical educators, nutrition scientists, practicing physicians, medical residency directors, and registered dietitian nutritionists call for nutrition competencies to be added to medical education, noting that "seven of the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. are directly affected by diet." Despite this, they wrote, nutrition is "limited or completely absent" from most U.S. medical education programs. After conducting a broad review of research, the experts identified 36 nutrition competencies to include in medical training, with 10 areas receiving top priority. The leading recommendation was training to provide "evidence-based, culturally sensitive nutrition and food recommendations to patients for the prevention and treatment of disease." Additionally, 97% of the panelists recommended that nutrition competencies be assessed through licensing or board certification examinations.

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