Nutrition in medical education: a systematic review.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Systematic review of predominantly non-randomized, observational, and qualitative educational studies
PubMed 31538623 · doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(19)30171-8
What was done
The authors conducted a systematic review of studies published between Nov 1, 2012, and Dec 31, 2018, examining nutrition education in medical training. Included studies evaluated nutrition knowledge, attitudes, skills, confidence, or perceptions among current or recently graduated (≤4 years) medical students, or assessed medical school nutrition curriculum initiatives. Study quality was evaluated using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.
What was found
From 66 identified studies, 24 met inclusion criteria (16 quantitative, 3 qualitative, and 5 curriculum initiatives) spanning the USA (n=11), Australasia (n=7), Europe (n=4), the Middle East (n=1), and Africa (n=1). The review found that nutrition is insufficiently incorporated into medical education regardless of country, setting, or year of training, which negatively affects student knowledge, skills, and confidence to counsel patients. Curriculum initiatives showed a modest positive effect. The abstract reports no numerical effect sizes or quantitative outcome data.
Why it matters
This review shows a pervasive global shortfall in undergraduate medical nutrition education, highlighting the need for institutional requirements and standardized competencies to prepare physicians for lifestyle and dietary counselling.
Limits
The abstract provides no pooled quantitative effect estimates, confidence intervals, or total participant sample sizes. The included evidence consists largely of heterogeneous observational, qualitative, and descriptive curriculum evaluations rather than controlled trials assessing patient-level health outcomes.
Cited by
- supports Most medical schools provide little to no formal curriculum training in clinical nutrition to medical students.