Training medical students to talk about nutrition and health
While the link between diet and health has been well-established, most medical students receive little, if any, training in nutrition and how to integrate it into interactions with patients. A new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers, published Jan. 10 in The American Journal of Medicine, provides a model for filling that gap at a time when national efforts to strengthen nutrition education for clinicians are accelerating.
The study assessed the online, self-directed course Nutrition Science for Health and Longevity: What Every Physician Needs to Know, which was added to Harvard Medical School’s curriculum in 2024. It is a required course in the Health Sciences & Technology track and was developed by the educational nonprofit Gaples Institute.
The researchers found that out of the 56 students who took the course in 2024 and 2025, all completed it with a score of 80% or greater, with most finishing it in less than three hours. Reflections submitted by students throughout the course indicated that it provided them with deeper understanding of the impact of diet on health and how they might be able to integrate nutrition counseling into their clinical practice, and left them with greater motivation to improve their own dietary habits, according to the study.
First author Stephen Devries, adjunct associate professor at Harvard Chan School and Gaples executive director, has taught a similar in-person course for health professionals for the past four years.
Other Harvard Chan School study authors included Kelsey Kinderknecht, David Ginnings, Emma-Louise Aveling, Howard Koh, and Walter Willett.
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Course brings nutrition into medical education and practice (Harvard Chan School news)
