Background The gap between the nutrition education provided to medical students and the nutrition competencies and attitudes needed for physicians to provide adequate nutrition care is a global concern. There is no universally accepted benchmark on nutrition competencies for doctors. The objective of this study was to establish, by expert consensus, the objectives of undergraduate nutrition medial education, the nutrition core competencies, and strategies for curriculum development in medical nutrition education. Methods We administered a Delphi survey to systematically gather the opinion of a panel of Latin American experts in nutrition. The survey questionnaire was constructed considering scientific literature by using a 5‐point Likert scale. Consensus was defined as >70% agreement on the importance of an item (Likert scale 4 and 5). Results A four‐round Delphi survey was conducted for this research. In the second, third, and fourth rounds, we validated a total of 130 competencies by consensus, which were distributed into four different thematic areas: (1) basic nutrition concepts, (2) public nutrition and nutrition prevention throughout the life cycle, (3) nutrition status and disease, and (4) nutrition care process. Conclusion The curricula for general physician education in medical school must include health promotion, prevention, and treatment of diseases related to nutrition. This goal can be reached by integrating ≤130 competencies into four different fundamental areas.

Background: Oxidative stress, genetic expression changes, and decomposition of the blood-brain barrier have been shown to be caused by exposure to radiofrequency radiation (RFR); therefore, the search for drugs or food products that offer some protection from these effects has attracted interest. Lepidium meyenii (maca) is a native Andean plant known for its effects on the female reproductive system as well as its immunomodulating, energizing, antioxidant, and nutritive properties due to its high concentration of alkaloids, amino acids, glucosinolates, fatty acids, and macamides. Objectives: We aim to determine the effect of dietary maca supplementation on spatial memory and cerebral oxidative damage in rats with induced menopause and/or with exposure to mobile phone radiation. Method: Female rats divided into 6 groups (six rats in each group): control or not ovariectomized (O-), ovariectomized (O+), ovariectomized + estrogen (O+E+), ovariectomized + estrogen + irradiated (O+E+I+), ovariectomized + maca (O+M+), and ovariectomized + maca + irradiated (O+M+I). Rat spatial memory was tested using the Morris water navigation task. Rats were sacrificed, and cerebral malondialdehyde was measured. Results: After exposure to mobile phone radiation, the group supplemented with maca showed improved spatial memory and lower levels of malondialdehyde than the estrogenized group. Conclusions: Our results suggest that consumption of maca has a positive effect on the maintenance of memory and decreases oxidative stress caused by mobile phone radiation. However, it is necessary to extend this work using a larger sample size.

Introducción: los modelos de cuidado nutricional son procesos estandarizados y sistematizados, cuyo objetivo es brindar consistencia y vinculación de la información, lo cual genera un impacto positivo en términos de calidad, servicio y costos. El objetivo del consenso de expertos fue proponer un modelo de cuidado nutricional para Latinoamérica, teniendo en cuenta el principio No. 2 de la Declaración Internacional de Cartagena.  Método: se desarrolló un cuestionario, el cual fue sometido a la opinión de expertos siguiendo la metodología Delphi. El cuestionario inicialmente contó con 16 preguntas que evaluaban los siguientes temas: ¿cuáles son las etapas y herramientas del modelo? ¿Qué enfoque debe tener? ¿Sobre qué pilares fundamentar el modelo? Se consideró consenso cuando los ítems del cuestionario lograron un puntaje ≥ 70 % en la escala de Likert 4 (de acuerdo) y 5 (totalmente de acuerdo).  Resultados: se realizaron tres rondas de consulta a expertos, donde se definió un modelo consistente en cinco pasos (que inició con el tamizaje del riesgo de desnutrición y terminó con los cuidados domiciliarios), los cuales se fundamentan en cinco pilares: educación, políticas públicas, fundamentos éticos, economía de la nutrición clínica y enfoque multidisciplinar/multisectorial. Se propusieron y analizaron indicadores de calidad de cada uno de los cinco pasos.  Conclusión: el modelo de cuidado nutricional para Latinoamérica se basa en cinco pasos y cinco pilares. Este modelo se debe considerar como una herramienta y estrategia didáctica, que facilite la implementación y enseñanza del cuidado nutricional en el contexto latinoamericano en el ámbito clínico en todo nivel de atención.

Background: This study focuses on enhancing student success in an undergraduate human physiology course offered by the Department of Pharmacy and Biochemistry at the National University of Trujillo (UNT), Peru. This study was motivated by a retrospective view of student performance during the academic years 2008 to 2016, in which only a low percentage of students were able to successfully pass the course. Method: In 2017, a questionnaire on visual-auditory-kinesthetic learning styles (VAK) revealed that the predominant learning style among students was visual-auditory. Thus, a Visual Thinking student-centred learning strategy was tested and implemented. Results: A noticeable improvement in student success, class participation, and student engagement were observed and linked to the novel learning system adopted. Also, Visual Thinking allowed students to engage in activities that make visible the processes of their creative thinking by laying their ideas graphically, rather than merely showing the conclusions of their thinking.