Implementation of nutritional medicine into German medical curricula: Project “Eat This!” to ameliorate medical education

Introduction  Introduction: Globally, malnutrition is responsible for nearly 8 million deaths, 188 million DALYs and main risk factor for chronic diseases. Global food systems are strongly linked to the development of climate change, antimicrobial resistances and pandemics, being among the most serious global health threats. Nutrition plays a substantial preventive and therapeutic role in addressing these challenges. Yet it is rarely discussed in doctors’ routines as physicians do not feel competent in providing nutritional advice. Several recent studies indicate a global lack of education in nutritional medicine (NM) in medical schools but also positive effects of teaching interventions. However, no larger studies have been conducted in Germany yet.

Material and Methods  "Eat This!" was the first Germany-wide teaching initiative with 11 digital lectures on nutrition basics, nutrition medicine and public health nutrition piloted in Cologne. To investigate the impact on students' attitudes towards NM, their self-perceived competence in NM, their nutrition knowledge and their eating behaviour, a prospective, controlled cross-sectional study with an online questionnaire was conducted from October 2020 to February 2021.

Results  In total 1531 students participated in the lecture series, 123 students were part of the control group. Students rated training in NM as insufficient both in quality and quantity, while considering the subject as relevant. They didn´t feel competent in advising patients and rated their knowledge as low. These parameters and their result in a 33-item multiple choice test could be increased by participating in Eat This! (p < 0.001). The students' awareness of healthy eating and their food choices also improved after participation (p < 0.001). Medical students in general appeared to consider climate change and nutrition’s effects on planetary health as very important.

Conclusion  Our results suggest that education in NM is insufficient in German medical faculties despite high student interest. Teaching initiatives such as Eat This! improve students competence and may be an efficient low-cost opportunity to address the issue.

^* Co-first author

Publication History

Article published online:
26 May 2023