MEDICAL EDUCATION NOT COVERING BASICS OF NUTRITION

Although diet plays an outsize role in health and wellness and can be crucial to managing many common chronic conditions, medical schools tend not to devote much time to teaching future doctors about nutrition, based on recent research.

Researchers analyzed data from 24 previously published studies that focused on medical students’ nutrition knowledge and confidence in their ability to counsel patients on diet. Overall, nutrition was insufficiently incorporated into medical education regardless of country, setting, or year of education, the review team found.

The problem, as raised by Dr Stephen Devries, is “If physicians worldwide are not meaningfully educated about nutrition, how can we expect them to emphasize anything besides drug and devices.”

Do you agree? Should more focus be on basic nutrition in medical training?