{"id":133248,"date":"2025-08-10T02:22:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T02:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/133248\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T02:22:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T02:22:44","slug":"goodbye-to-doctors-with-no-nutritional-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/133248\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye to doctors with no nutritional training"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most medical students barely learn about nutrition, even though food is key to our health. Now, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to change that by requiring nutrition education in medical schools or cutting their federal funding.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true there are some benefits like SNAP that allows children to eat healthy<\/a>. However, this change is a bold move, but one that could reshape how future doctors talk to patients about food, weight, and health. So, let\u2019s see this change in more detail.<\/p>\n

Nutrition is being discussed in medical schools<\/p>\n

Everyone knows that diet is key to health, but most medical students in the U.S. receive little or no formal education on nutrition. In fact, more than half don\u2019t receive a single dedicated class on the subject, and less than a third reach the recommended minimum of 25 hours.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current Secretary of Health, wants to make nutrition education mandatory in medical schools. His proposal is that if schools don\u2019t include it, they could lose federal funding. He explained this in a video on Instagram, saying the goal is to ensure future doctors get strong nutrition training from their first year.<\/p>\n

What do experts say?<\/p>\n

Many doctors and professionals agree this is necessary, although it\u2019s still unclear how the change would be implemented or which subjects would need to be cut to make room for nutrition. Still, there is consensus that education in this area needs improvement.<\/p>\n

Some universities are already taking steps. Harvard Medical School, for example, stated that nutrition has been integrated into several parts of its curriculum since 2019, though they admit there is still room to grow.<\/p>\n

How patients are treated<\/p>\n

Several experts believe that teaching what to eat or what nutrients matter is not enough. What\u2019s also needed is to train future doctors on how to talk to patients about their eating habits and weight respectfully and without bias.<\/p>\n

Why? Because many studies show that there are biases in how people with higher weight are treated. For example, one study showed that 44% of patients with type 2 diabetes felt judged by their doctor because of their weight. When this happens, patients often avoid going back to the doctor, which can worsen their health.<\/p>\n

According to expert Rebecca Puhl, it\u2019s also important to teach that weight is not always the patient\u2019s fault: there are genetic, social, and environmental factors involved. Simply saying \u201ceat less and exercise more\u201d is too simplistic and often unhelpful.<\/p>\n

What should better education look like?<\/p>\n

In addition to covering facts about fats, proteins, and vitamins, many suggest a more practical education. For example, at least 34 medical schools in the U.S. now teach \u201cculinary medicine,\u201d<\/a> where future doctors learn how to cook and offer realistic dietary advice.<\/p>\n

They also learn how to have supportive, effective conversations with patients. Instead of focusing on what not to eat, they encourage an approach based on what patients can eat, along with goals that fit each person\u2019s reality.<\/p>\n

Dr. David Eisenberg, from Harvard University, believes this is key. He promotes the idea of using \u201cteaching kitchens\u201d where medical professionals and patients learn to prepare healthy, practical meals. He also suggests that, when talking about food, doctors ask open-ended questions like: \u201cWhat is your relationship with food?\u201d or \u201cHow would you like your eating habits to look a year from now?\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is this important?<\/p>\n

Because the subjects of food, health, and weight are very personal. And if a doctor makes an inappropriate comment \u2014 even unintentionally \u2014 the patient may shut down and avoid future visits. For that reason, many professionals believe it\u2019s urgent to train doctors to talk about these topics with sensitivity, empathy, and up-to-date knowledge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most medical students barely learn about nutrition, even though food is key to our health. Now, Health Secretary…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":133249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[210,1182,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-133248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115002090992202876","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}