Nutrition education requirement for medical schools long overdue, expert says
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to see all U.S. medical schools offer nutrition courses and has proposed withholding federal funding from schools that don’t.
David Eisenberg, adjunct associate professor of nutrition and director of culinary nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a June 4 ABC News article that such a requirement is urgently needed and long overdue. “I think the public imagines that physicians are required to know a lot more than they are trained to know about nutrition and giving practical advice about food to patients,” he said.
All 170 medical schools represented by the Association of American Medical Colleges cover nutrition content, but standards are inconsistent, according to the ABC News article.
Eisenberg has argued for years that better nutrition education can help doctors advise their patients on dietary choices—ultimately helping them lower chronic disease risk. He founded the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives training program for health professionals, and last year was part of a panel that developed a set of recommended nutrition competencies for medical students and physician trainees.
Read the ABC News article: RFK Jr. to tell medical schools to teach nutrition or lose federal funding
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Doctors need more nutrition education (Harvard Chan School news)
