Medical schools are on the verge of making an important change -- one that could help stem America's growing chronic disease crisis, change the way we live and eat, and cut the biggest driver of health care spending.
This month, the organization that oversees and accredits medical education approved new requirements to ensure medical students learn about nutrition and its role in preventing and managing chronic disease. This major change, driven by U.S. Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., could be an inflection point in our fight against chronic illness, including heart disease, the number one killer in the U.S. and globally.
While nutrition has long been part of medical school curricula, this proposal moves us beyond simply checking a box to making sure graduates put that knowledge into practice with clear expectations and measurable outcomes.
Physicians have long known that a poor diet greatly increases the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, and many of the other leading causes of preventable death in the U.S. Nearly 42 percent of adults live with obesity, and millions more struggle with high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol linked to diet.
The economic toll of poor diets is staggering: more than $1 trillion every year in medical care and lost productivity.
Yet for too long, medical schools and residency programs have focused their training to treat diseases after they develop, and less on teaching them how to shape their patients' diets to prevent those conditions in the first place.
That's starting to change -- but it needs to change faster. All U.S. medical schools now include nutrition education in their curricula. But proper dieting still doesn't receive the attention it deserves. Only 17% of schools fully integrate nutrition training across all years of study.
This new recommendation for medical schools -- along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's soon-to-be-released updated dietary guidelines and the Department of Health and Human Services' initiative to prioritize the role of food in medicine -- could help accelerate this shift.
Of course, curricular changes in medical schools won't necessarily help doctors who are already practicing. For those physicians, they'll need to seek out nutritional training and stay up to date on the latest research. To better serve my patients, I recently completed a certification in lifestyle medicine, which emphasizes the role of food, exercise, sleep, and stress in preventing and treating disease. That training has already reshaped my conversations with patients and their families.
The responsibility doesn't lie with doctors alone, though.
Many Americans sincerely want to eat healthier but face systemic barriers. Roughly 19 million Americans – and many of the patient I see at my practice in Flint, Michigan – live in "food deserts," far from a supermarket with fresh produce. In 2023, more than one in 10 households lacked consistent access to enough nutritious food.
Even something as seemingly basic as clean water can't always be taken for granted. Nationwide, millions of Americans lack access to clean running water. My own community knows this all too well. Without affordable, nutritious food and safe water, families can't always make the healthy choice.
The move to expand nutrition education in medical schools is more than a curricular update. It's a call to action for all of us -- for families to reflect on their lifestyle choices, for physicians to bring honest conversations about nutrition into the exam room, and for community and political leaders to ensure all Americans can make healthy choices.
If we want to improve our nation's health, we can't just look to hospitals or pharmacies. We have to start with what's on our plates.
Bobby Mukkamala, MD, is an ear, nose and throat surgeon in Flint, Michigan, and president of the American Medical Association.