Medical students have noticed that nutrition and diet receive scant attention in their studies. Now they want change, in the form of dietary knowledge they can use to treat common health problems.
Diet, medicine and social issues are coming together in Britain
More and more people are coping with weight concerns, depression and diabetes, which doctors group as non-communicable diseases.
As this trend continues, nutrition may well become a standard part of medical education.
In the thick of the change is Bristol University in England, where medical students Iain Broadley and Ally Jaffee recently opened Nutritank, a think tank for nutrition research and on-campus education. Bristol is now poised to offer Britain’s first course in culinary medicine, and in 2018 the British Medical Journal will launch a journal on diet: the science and the social issues.
Signs of change in North America
The University of New Mexico’s medical school has teamed up with its College of Education to offer an elective that invites medical students into the kitchen. The class welcomes fourth-year medical students and nutrition graduate students.
Taught by Associate Professor Deborah Cohen, the new culinary medicine course guides students in food preparation and covers the clinical science connecting nutrition with the treatment of disease. The syllabus includes an overview, a section on renal physiology and sodium, and lessons on fats and modifying body weight. Online sections cover metabolism, physiology and biochemistry.
A dietetic intern serves as a nutrition care mentor for each medical student. Mentored students can complete a clinical component, carrying out nutrition assessments and then guiding patients as they learn.
Connecting food to medicine
Prof. Cohen founded the course after National Public Radio featured the progress at Tulane University’s Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine.
Of course, connecting food and medicine means access to a spacious kitchen. That connection may become the new model.
For proof that culinary medicine is growing, consider the Health Meets Food conference in New Orleans in June 2018. The event showcases culinary medicine as it emerges in medical schools across North America, and participants share their research, adding to the scientific support for this evolving field.
Expect plenty of kitchen labs in the coming years!