In a study conducted more than 30 years ago, the National Academies of Science recommended every medical student receive at least 25 hours of nutrition education. However, a 2010 study published in the journal Academic Medicine found students receive only 19.6 hours of nutrition education during their four years at medical school, according to the report.
However, researchers at the New Orleans-based Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University are working to reverse the trend.
Under the medical school’s curriculum, all first- and second-year medical students are required to enroll in three nutrition classes provided through the Goldring Center. The classes teach students how to create healthy meals with inexpensive ingredients and how to teach patients to improve on the foods they already eat instead of creating an entirely new diet plan for them, according to the report.
The institution’s curriculum is currently licensed by 28 medical schools and two nursing schools.
“We want [medical students] to change their own lifestyle, but we also are teaching them how to use this information to talk to patients about food and how patients can change their food intake and habits in order to change their health,” said Leah Sarris, a chef and program director of the Goldring Center.
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