Metabolic Health Immersion for Medical Education: A Pilot Program with Continuous Glucose Monitors in Medical and Dental Students.

Diet-related chronic diseases are increasing in prevalence and poised to dominate the future careers of current medical students. While the value of nutritionally-informed care and nutrition-based health interventions is increasingly recognized, nutrition education is inconsistently and often inadequately included in medical school curricula. One obstacle to incorporating nutrition into medical and dental school curricula is the density of existing coursework, with incorporation of new material necessitating removal of other material. One solution is to engage students outside the classroom in immersive education in nutrition and metabolism using health-wearables. We report the Metabolic Health Immersion for Medical Education pilot program, spearheaded and designed by Harvard Medical students centering on use of continuous glucose monitors (CGM). Students reported enjoyment with the study, felt encouraged to improve health behaviors, and shared that the experience enhanced their understanding of nutrition and metabolism, was valuable to their medical education, and would influence their future patient care. This study demonstrates proof-of-principle that metabolic health immersion opportunities for health care trainees provide a means of helping to address the current deficit in medical school nutrition education.

Integrating Nutrition Education into Clinical Practice.

The power of physicians to educate patients about nutrition and provide the tools and motivation needed for patients to adopt healthy eating habits is under-utilized. To unleash that power, practicing physicians need to synthesize the latest in nutrition science, integrate it with the established body of evidence on healthy nutrition, and translate and communicate this knowledge to patients in a practical and effective way. Physicians and patients face similar barriers in discussing and incorporating healthy nutrition practices. Tactics and tools that are simple, effective, affordable, and scalable, can be incorporated in clinical practice, thereby making nutrition counseling feasible with only incremental burden to physicians' time and energy. These tactics include: (1) assessing body mass index at every visit, (2) adding obesity or overweight on the problem list, (3) assessing diet, (4) acknowledging risk, (5) being mindful of language, and (6) writing a prescription. Understanding the psychological aspects of food choices and behavioral change, use of technology, and engaging teams are also important. Group visits to address nutrition-related topics are a novel approach to discuss and taste (literally) healthy eating. Finally, physicians' own health and nutrition are powerful predictors of nutrition education to patients and can be a target of intervention as well.

Shared Medical Appointments: A Portal for Nutrition and Culinary Education in Primary Care-A Pilot Feasibility Project.

INTRODUCTION: Diseases linked to obesity such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, degenerative joint disease, gastroesophageal reflux, and sleep apnea constitute a large portion of primary care visits. Patients with these conditions often lack knowledge, skills, and support needed to maintain health. Shared medical appointments (SMAs) that include culinary skills and nutrition education offer a novel, cost-effective way to address these diseases in primary care. METHODS: Adult patients in a primary care practice at a large academic hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, who had at least 1 cardiovascular risk factor were invited to participate in SMAs that included cooking demonstrations and teaching about nutrition in addition to medical management of their conditions. Sessions were conducted by a physician and an assistant in a conference room of a traditional primary care practice as part of a pilot feasibility project. RESULTS: Seventy patients, contributing a total of 156 patient visits, attended 17 nutrition-focused SMAs over a 4-year period. Patients were surveyed after each visit and indicated that they enjoyed the SMAs, would consider alternating SMAs with traditional one-on-one visits, and would recommend SMAs to others. Half would pay out of pocket or a higher copay to attend SMAs. Financially, the practice broke even compared with traditional one-onone office visits. CONCLUSION: In this feasibility study, chronic disease SMAs conducted with a culinary/nutrition focus were feasible, cost-effective, and well received by patients. Follow-up studies are needed to evaluate short- and long-term outcomes of this SMA model on obesity-related diseases.

Nutrition attitudes and knowledge in medical students after completion of an integrated nutrition curriculum compared to a dedicated nutrition curriculum: a quasi-experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Nutrition education has presented an ongoing challenge to medical educators. In the 2007-2008 academic year, Harvard Medical School replaced its dedicated Preventive Medicine and Nutrition course with an integrated curriculum. The objective of the current study was to assess the effect of the curriculum change on medical student attitudes and knowledge about nutrition. METHODS: A survey was administered in a quasi-experimental design to students in the last class of the dedicated curriculum (n = 131) and the first class of the integrated curriculum (n = 135) two years after each class completed the required nutrition course. Main measures were attitude scores based on modified Nutrition in Patient care Survey and satisfaction ratings, performance on a nutrition knowledge test, and demographic variables. Two-tailed t-tests were performed. RESULTS: Response rates were 50.4% and 42.2%. There were no differences between the groups in attitude scores from the Nutrition in Patient care Survey (p = 0.43) or knowledge scores (p = 0.63). Students with the integrated curriculum were less satisfied with both the quantity (p < 0.0001) and quality (p = 0.008) of their nutrition education, and were more likely to have completed optional online nutrition training modules (p = 0.0089). CONCLUSIONS: Medical student attitudes and knowledge about nutrition were not affected by the model of nutrition education they receive, though students in an integrated curriculum may feel their education is inadequate and seek additional training.

Influence of the DASH diet and other low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets on blood pressure.

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and DASH-sodium trials were controlled feeding dietary trials that lowered blood pressure in the absence of weight loss. The beneficial aspect of DASH appears to be the low saturated fat content (< 7%). Sodium restriction added additional blood pressure lowering to the low saturated fat DASH diet. Sodium restriction was more effective with increasing age and more effective than increasing fruit and vegetable content. When achievement of sodium restriction, exercise, and weight loss goals were reached in the outpatient setting with subjects making their own food choices (as in the PREMIER study), adding the DASH diet with an average fruit and vegetable intake of 7.8 servings daily had no additional benefit in those younger than 50 years of age or in ethnic/gender subgroups, but did have a benefit for the total group older than age 50 years. Because many hypertensive subjects are overweight, hypocaloric versions of DASH geared toward weight loss are appropriate. Mechanisms for dietary beneficial effects are related to inflammation and insulin sensitivity.

Impact of a preventive medicine and nutrition curriculum for medical students.

BACKGROUND: United States public health goals call for increased physician counseling about diet and exercise, but many medical schools lack adequate curriculum on these topics. At Harvard Medical School, second-year students take a preventive medicine and nutrition (PMN) course. This study evaluated the impact of this innovative curriculum on students' confidence about addressing patients' diet and exercise patterns and on their own health habits. METHODS: Students enrolled in the 2003 PMN course (N =137) completed a confidential 43-item written survey before and after the course. Surveys were completed by 134 students (98%) and 118 students (86%), respectively. The survey assessed students' diet and exercise habits and students' confidence in their ability to address diet and exercise with patients and family members. RESULTS: Students' confidence in their ability to assess and counsel about diet and exercise significantly improved after the course (all p <0.001). The course was also associated with a decrease in students' self-reported consumption of saturated fat (p =0.002) and trans fatty acids (p <0.001). Following the course, 72% of students perceived an improvement in their diet but only 18% perceived an improvement in exercise habits. CONCLUSIONS: An innovative PMN course improved medical students' confidence in diet and exercise counseling and perceived dietary habits. Improving these mediators of physician counseling in medical students may translate into changes in their practice patterns.