About half of all American adults have one or more preventable, diet-related chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Physicians — who most of us trust implicitly for health and medical expertise — are in a unique position to educate their patients about the relationship between nutrition, health and disease.
How we educate and train future physicians about nutrition and wellness can have a significant impact on their approach to patient care and their own self-care.
See: [10 Lessons From Extreme Dieting.]
In-depth nutrition education is needed.
A recent paper my team and I published highlights numerous studies that confirm chronic diseases have a significant and ongoing impact on population health. They account for seven of the top 10 causes of death, with heart disease and cancer causing nearly half of fatalities. Relatedly, the impact of chronic disease on health care expenditures is equally dramatic.
Several recent studies reveal that patients who make better lifestyle choices can dramatically improve and reverse the effects of many chronic diseases. And, undoubtedly, physicians who make nutrition-based recommendations play a significant role in alerting patients of the link between their diet and their medical condition, as well as helping patients adjust their diet and other lifestyle factors to better prevent and treat these deadly conditions.
Most medical schools address nutrition in some manner. At Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, we recently updated our medical school curriculum to fully cover all aspects of nutrition. The content in biochemistry and physiology courses cover nutrition and relate back to diet and wellness. As a result, our medical students are provided an opportunity to learn fundamental principles of nutrition and are better prepared to apply nutrition principles in clinical settings with patients.
Interestingly, our current medical students are increasingly hungry for a more robust nutritional education. A survey conducted by CCLCM found that only 8 percent of its students had received any exposure to nutrition training as undergraduates. Despite this, nearly 85 percent recognized that nutrition education is important in their medical school training, and 70 percent who have had some degree of nutrition education state that it has directly influenced the manner in which they care for patients and themselves.
See: [The 14 Best Diets to Prevent and Manage Diabetes.]
Physician, heal thyself.
Given the chronic disease crisis in the U.S., having nutrition integrated in the curriculum may be a way to arm the physicians for the future of health care. One of the most important elements to the inclusion of nutrition-based courses and seminars is support from medical school leadership. At CCLCM, at the behest of leaders who appreciated the role nutrition can play in treating chronic diseases, we convened a Faculty/Student Nutrition Task Force to investigate how nutrition should be incorporated into the curriculum, and what available resources could be used to facilitate that effort.
Based on those efforts, CCLCM today has completed initial integration of nutrition content into our five-year medical school curriculum. And integration is indeed the key. Standalone nutrition courses or seminars are beneficial, but perhaps not to the same extent as those woven into training on broader medical topics. Pleased with the impact this nutrition thread is providing our students, we will continue to assess and modify content integration as changes occur within the fields of nutrition and wellness.
Another substantial benefit of incorporating nutrition into medical school training is the positive effect on physician self-care. The practice of medicine can be exhausting, with heavy workloads and long hours, especially during residency. Physicians are as apt to reap the positive effects of wellness as any other cohort.
Practicing what they preach is more likely to illicit a positive response from patients when offering them nutritional advice. Further, a survey of physicians found that those who incorporate healthy lifestyle habits are more apt to offer these recommendations to patients.
Besides CCLCM, several other medical schools are taking similar steps to emphasize nutrition training. I believe that teaching nutrition education to medical students will help the field of nutrition become an integral part of the patient care team. We need more nutrition counseling to face chronic health conditions, and beginning this discussion in medical school is a great start.
See: [8 Tasty Keto Diet-Friendly Snacks.]
Let’s talk!
Here are some questions that may start a conversation on nutrition with your physician:
— How does my diet affect my medical condition?
— Do you think diet can be a way to manage my medical condition? If so, how?
— Could you refer me to someone who can help me learn more about how my diet can be used to manage my medical condition?
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Why Medical Students Need Nutrition Training originally appeared on usnews.com
