RFK Jr inspires medical schools to teach more about nutrition

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a new effort Thursday to teach medical schools more about nutrition.

Kennedy has pressured schools for months to increase nutrition education, threatening to cut funding for those who refuse and promising public recognition for those who comply. He has long argued that doctors are undertrained in nutrition, leading to a focus on preventing chronic diseases with diet rather than treating them with drugs, an approach some experts say is too simplistic.

Fifty-two medical schools have voluntarily agreed to participate in the new initiative, senior Department of Health and Human Services officials told reporters on a call Wednesday. 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 admissions.

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 explaining how they plan to provide access to 40 hours of nutrition education for medical students.

Officials said the initiative is not intended to mandate any specific curriculum but to provide a framework that schools can adopt. Officials said the administration made suggestions to schools, which they did not provide details of.

New York Times reported On Wednesday, 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.

One official said, “Although groups may not agree on the specific symptoms we are using, there is broad agreement that doctors could have more courses in nutrition in medical school.”

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.

A 2015 study published in the Journal of Biomedical Education found that medical students spend an average of only 19 hours on nutrition education over their four years. The study surveyed 133 US medical schools.

But in the early 1960s, the American Medical Association reported nutrition received “inadequate recognition, support, and attention” in American medical schools.

In 1969, health experts at the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health concluded that nutrition in medical education was inadequate and recommended funding for future programme development.

Nestle said in an email, “It would be great if doctors knew more about nutrition, but the way our healthcare system works—doctors have 15 minutes with patients—I see only two things they really need to know: how to recognise a nutrition problem when a patient needs nutrition (not as easy as it sounds) and, even more important, how to refer patients with nutrition problems to a dietitian.”

Dr Adam Gaffney, a critical care physician and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said he supports expanding schools’ nutrition curriculum, believing the new material is “scientifically rigorous”.

However, he said, Kennedy’s premise has been that “doctors don’t know, care or talk about nutrition and so just give pills.”

“That premise is wrong. It also misdiagnoses the problem,” Gaffney said. “Americans often eat unhealthy foods because of financial and time constraints and because unhealthy food is ubiquitous and convenient and cheap.”

Gaffney also said Kennedy has embraced “numerous pseudoscientific” medical ideas, including replacing seed oil with beef oil, claiming it is a healthier alternative, and pushing unsupported claims that shots are linked to autism.

“It raises the question of what exactly they want to add to the existing nutrition teaching in medical schools,” Gaffney said.