Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pushing for mandatory, comprehensive nutrition education in US medical schools arguing that doctors are undertrained in the subject.
The Health and Human Services Secretary has spent months pressing schools to increase nutrition education, threatening funding cuts for those that refuse and promising public recognition for those that comply.
NBC News reports: He has long argued that doctors are undertrained in nutrition, leading to a focus on treating chronic diseases with medication rather than preventing them with diet, an approach that some experts say is oversimplified.
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Fifty-two medical schools have voluntarily agreed to take part in the new initiative, senior Department of Health and Human Services officials told reporters on a call Wednesday. The officials declined to identify the schools and told reporters to expect statements from the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Medical Colleges, which creates the MCAT exam for medical school admission.
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The new initiative asks medical schools to do three things: review how much nutrition training they provide, appoint a faculty member to oversee nutrition education and create a public page outlining how they plan to reach 40 hours of nutrition education for medical students.
The initiative is meant not to mandate a specific curriculum, the officials said, but to provide a framework that schools can adapt. Officials said the administration offered schools suggestions, which they did not detail.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Kennedy wrote a letter to universities in January suggesting 71 topics, including food allergies, dietary supplements, wearable devices, composting and crop rotation. NBC News has not reviewed the letter.
“Although groups might not agree with the specific characterizations we’re using, there’s wide agreement that doctors in medical school could have more curriculum in nutrition,” an official said.
Doctors have argued for decades that medical schools should teach more about nutrition, said Marion Nestle, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University.
