Eat This, Not That—Why Medical Schools Need to Emphasize Nutrition | Opinion – Newsweek
I’m a 58-year-old physician and have been overweight most of my life. My average Body Mass Index (BMI) is about 27, which means I am overweight. Despite being a doctor for over three decades, I didn’t know the difference between healthy and unhealthy food until a few years ago. Though I exercised diligently, I chose to remain ignorant about the risks and harm of the standard American diet, one that is rich in processed carbohydrates and meat and replete in fresh fruits and vegetables.
This summer many Americans turn to grilling steaks, burgers, and hot dogs. In addition to red and processed meat, many BBQ consumers enjoy their meat with sugary sauces and marinades partnered with high-calorie foods. Estimates are that three out of four Americans don’t eat a single piece of fruit in a given day, and nearly nine out of 10 don’t reach the minimum recommended daily intake of vegetables. This is despite the World Health Organization’s recommendation to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day.
Being overweight or obese is a serious, common, and costly chronic disease. More than two in five U.S. adults have obesity. By 2030, nearly one of two adults in the U.S. are projected to be obese.
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More than 108 million U.S. adults live with obesity and more than 1 billion people are obese around the world. Obesity accounted for nearly $173 billion in medical expenditures in 2019.
Recent news that weight loss medications, including GLP-1 receptor agonists like Ozempic and others, are revolutionizing obesity medicine. Some patients lose up to 20 percent of their initial body weight in a year or two on these drugs. Yet a recent lawsuit challenging a top brand heightens concerns about this relatively new class of drugs.
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To maintain a healthy weight, a healthy diet is the cornerstone to good health. Obesity now kills more people than smoking. Obesity is a risk factor for a multitude of diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and severe COVID-19, which were the top three leading causes of death in the U.S. in 2021.
The consequences of obesity can take years or even decades to manifest, but eventually they will fester and promote other diseases. It is a common cause of obstructive sleep apnea, strokes, heart attacks, liver disease, back pain, degenerative joint disease and joint replacements, and diabetes mellitus.
As a physician, I am embarrassed to say I believed I was living a healthy lifestyle. I was overweight, but didn’t smoke, drink alcohol excessively, or routinely eat fast food. I was also exercising. Still, the family pantry was stocked with bread and other dry carbohydrates, while my refrigerator was filled with red meat and ice cream.
A salad is seen.
Silas Stein/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
A year ago, my blood pressure jumped to pre-hypertensive levels and my blood sugar increased to pre-diabetic levels. I decided to learn more about nutrition—even though I graduated from and teach at a top medical school.
While the American Heart Association offers grants to teach nutrition in schools for children in pre-K through middle school, medical schools need to do a better job of teaching nutrition.
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden announced new ways to tighten nutrition rules in schools and increase nutritional values for children. These programs were not available when I was growing up. As a child, I was eating mostly Korean food but by high school my diet included fast food and pizza.
In medical school, I didn’t focus on the few nutrition classes offered, as I considered the subject to be so much less important than other classes that focused on various organ systems such as the heart or brain.
More than half of graduating medical students report that the time dedicated to clinical nutrition instruction is insufficient. In a striking study of 115 medical doctors, the majority of participants (65.2 percent) demonstrated inadequate nutrition knowledge, with 30.4 percent of those scoring low having a high self-perception of their nutrition knowledge.
The important role of medical doctors in addressing nutrition in clinical practice has been acknowledged by multiple authoritative professional bodies. Ironically, most doctors often lack the knowledge to help a patient eat healthy and to realize the importance of food to wellness.
In a contested space filled with commercial interests and influencers, it is critical for a doctor to be a reliable source of evidence-based nutrition. There are so many diets and opinions about what is a healthy diet. I switched to a plant-based diet; my blood pressure and blood sugar are now normal.
Medical school administrators, policymakers, and faculty must challenge the current medical curriculum and emphasize more nutrition education. Physicians need to assess their current knowledge and complete more continuing educational courses as needed. Patients need to query about and if possible, seek nutritional advice from their physician.
These steps can save millions of lives and shrink the obesity epidemic in this country.
Prescott Lee, MD, is a staff physician at Massachusetts General Hospital-North End Waterfront Health, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and OpEd Project Public Voices Fellow.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
