What’s more, academic literature suggests that health care workers who receive targeted training in nutrition change their own lifestyle and exhibit greater confidence in discussing food and dietary choices with their patients, according to the panel’s findings.
The issue has gained attention in Congress in recent years due to the growing impact of obesity and diet-related diseases. Peer-reviewed research estimates the total Medicare cost for these conditions was about $800 billion in 2019 and federal spending on graduate medical education surpassed $16 billion in 2020. Another source with the Rockefeller Foundation, a philanthropic science research organization, reported that the U.S. spends approximately $1.1 trillion on treating diet-sensitive diseases.
In May 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Resolution 1118, calling for enhanced training to better prepare physicians to provide practical, evidence-based, and culturally sensitive advice about food and diet. In response, 37 national medical educators and residency directors, nutrition scientists, registered dietitian nutritionists, and practicing physicians gathered and identified 36 areas for curriculum improvement after four rounds of thorough deliberations.
“In many ways, UT Southwestern is ahead of the curve when it comes to culinary medicine, which is a marriage of food, nutrition, and medical science that empowers people to develop and sustain a delicious and nourishing dietary pattern,” Dr. Albin said.
Following the philosophy that “food is medicine,” Dr. Albin co-created UT Southwestern’s Eat for Health nutrition education curricular strategy and advocated for its current integration into the required coursework for medical students.
UTSW was the first medical center in the country to license the Health Meets Food curriculum to strengthen students’ understanding of nutrition principles and practical skills. The experiential course led by a physician-dietitian team teaches medical and other health profession students essential culinary skills and explores the link between diet and health outcomes. Launched in 2017, the class remains one of the most popular electives at UTSW, year after year.
Culinary medicine goes beyond “nebulous ideas about what is good or bad food,” said second-year medical student Sahej Bhatia, who completed the course and remains involved as a student leader. “In medicine, we have some exposure to the idea that high-sodium diets and saturated fats are associated with cardiovascular disease, but what does that actually mean? If I tell a patient this, what changes can they implement based on this information alone?
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