In August, the Trump administration announced a major initiative urging medical schools and medical-education organizations to implement "comprehensive nutrition education and training" as part of its Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda. The proposal requires U.S. medical schools, residencies, and licensing boards to integrate nutrition education into their programs or risk losing federal funding.
I fully support this effort -- there is never enough nutrition education. My hope is that the administration will engage registered dietitians (RDs), the true experts in the field, to help train the next generation of physicians.
For 16 years, I have been a registered dietitian at a teaching hospital in Boston, where I've had the privilege of training many medical residents and fellows. Nutrition is highly valued at our institution, with a team of over 50 dietitians specialized across different areas. Yet, even with this level of support, I often feel we could be doing more. I've long wished that physicians had more nutrition education built into their training.
Many people are unaware that medical students receive very little nutrition instruction. According to a 2014 survey, only 27% of U.S. medical schools met the recommended minimum of 25 hours. Nutrition and diet are intrinsically linked to health; the Center for Science in the Public Interest estimates that unhealthy diets contribute to approximately 678,000 U.S. deaths each year from conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.
Unfortunately, physicians often lack the time or training to deliver meaningful nutrition counseling during short office visits. One of my patients recently shared that their doctor's only advice for high cholesterol was "just eat less" -- a common and unhelpful refrain. Many patients feel lost trying to make dietary changes without expert guidance.
When the administration's initiative was announced, my mother asked if it worried me -- whether it might reduce demand for dietitians.
My answer was simple: impossible.
We can't begin to meet the full need for nutrition support. Barriers such as insurance coverage, time, cost, geography (even with telehealth), and technology all limit access. The growing use of GLP-1 medications, and the associated risks of malnutrition and muscle loss, further underscore the need for wide-reaching nutrition education. Every person should have access to a dietitian, and nutrition should be part of all school health curriculums. We eat three times a day, yet nutrition remains absent from most education systems.
Last week, the Association of American Medical Colleges issued a call to action for U.S. medical schools and academic health systems to strengthen nutrition education. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics also strongly supports integrating comprehensive nutrition education into medical training and recommends collaboration with registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) to ensure content is evidence-based. Some critics argue that this mandate duplicates the work of dietitians, but I believe collaboration only expands access to quality nutrition care.
My main concern lies in how the Trump administration's initiative will be implemented. Who will deliver the education? My deepest hope is that registered dietitians will take the lead. I envision registered dietitians working with medical school administrators on nutrition curriculum development, in addition to actually delivering the education in medical school classrooms. Dietitians and physicians already work closely together on patient care. We collaborate to make sure that our recommendations are supportive of one another and reinforced when we see the patient. The same logic should apply to medical education.
In the U.S., RDs (or RDNs) are licensed healthcare professionals who complete accredited coursework, a yearlong supervised practice -- mostly in hospitals -- and a national exam regulated by the Commission on Dietetic Registration. We provide medical nutrition therapy and work across clinical, community, and research settings. The term "nutritionist," by contrast, is unregulated in many states and can be used by anyone without formal training. Becoming a RD is both an educational and financial commitment. Nutrition education should therefore be delivered to medical students by us, the experts, as opposed to nutritionists or physicians.
More nutrition education for physicians can only strengthen our healthcare system. We are long overdue for a model that values food and nutrition as much as medication and procedures. My hope is that this initiative fosters collaboration -- with RDs leading the way. We have dedicated our careers to understanding both the science and the human side of nutrition, and our voices must be part of the conversation.
If this effort helps even a few more patients receive accurate, compassionate, and practical nutrition guidance, it will be a step toward real change -- one that puts credible, evidence-based nutrition care at the heart of health.
Skylar Griggs, MS, RD, LDN, is the owner of Newbury Street Nutrition and a senior-level dietitian for the cardiology division at Boston Children's Hospital.
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