Nutrition from the kitchen: culinary medicine impacts students’ counseling confidence

Abstract

Background Although a poor diet is the number one risk factor for early death in the United States and globally, physicians receive little to no training in dietary interventions and lack confidence counseling patients about lifestyle modifications. Innovative, interprofessional strategies to address these gaps include the emergence of culinary medicine, a hands-on approach to teaching the role of food in health outcomes. We sought to assess the impact of a culinary medicine elective on counseling confidence, awareness of an evidence-based approach to nutrition, and understanding of the role of interprofessional teamwork in dietary lifestyle change among medical students at one undergraduate medical school. Methods We administered pre- and post-course surveys to two cohorts of medical students (n = 64 at pre-test and n = 60 at post-test) participating in a culinary medicine enrichment elective. Chi-square analysis was used to assess the relationship between participation in the course and a positive response to each survey item. Results Compared with the baseline, students participating in culinary medicine were more likely to feel confident discussing nutrition with patients (29% vs 92%; p < 0.001), to feel familiar with the Mediterranean diet (54% vs. 97%; p < 0.001), and to understand the role of dietitians in patient care (37% vs. 93%; p < 0.001). Conclusions Culinary medicine shows promise as an impactful educational strategy among first-year medical students for increasing counseling confidence, promoting familiarity with evidence-based nutrition interventions, and augmenting understanding of the role of interprofessional engagement to address lifestyle-related disease.

Exploring culinary medicine as a promising method of nutritional education in medical school: a scoping review

“…The number of participants ranged from four [ 38 ] to 4215 [ 46 ]. Twenty studies involved medical students only [ 34 , 35 , 38 – 42 , 44 – 46 , 48 , 49 , 51 , 52 , 54 – 59 ], nine of which evaluated a single year cohort of students rather than a mixed cohort between years one through four of their medical program [ 38 , 40 , 42 , 52 , 55 – 59 ]. Two studies involved medical students and medical registrars [ 45 , 47 ], and two also included nutrition students [ 43 , 47 ].…”

“…Twelve studies reported the study population demographics, with participants from varying ethnicities and nutritional backgrounds [ 34 , 44 – 46 , 48 – 52 , 56 – 58 ]. The recruitment process in the studies typically involved an open elective application ( n = 6) [ 42 , 49 , 50 , 55 , 56 , 59 ], or voluntary enrolment into the course ( n = 8) [ 38 , 39 , 43 , 44 , 48 , 51 , 52 , 54 ].…”

“…All but three studies [ 41 , 47 , 53 ] had an underpinning objective of using culinary medicine approaches to improve medical students’ nutrition knowledge and counseling in a clinical environment to support chronic disease prevention and management ( n = 21) [ 34 , 35 , 38 – 40 , 42 – 46 , 48 – 52 , 54 – 59 ]. Studies assessed medical students’ culinary skills ( n = 4) [ 52 , 54 , 56 , 59 ], nutrition attitudes ( n = 12) [ 34 , 35 , 39 , 44 , 48 , 50 , 52 , 54 , 56 – 59 ], and provision of nutrition counseling to patients ( n = 10) [ 35 , 39 , 44 , 50 – 52 , 55 – 58 ]. Studies also assessed student collaboration amongst other populations, such as people in the community ( n = 4) [ 38 , 44 , 56 , 57 ] and other healthcare professionals, including allied health and practicing physicians ( n = 10) [ 39 , 40 , 43 , 47 , 50 , 53 – 57 ].…”

“…Fifteen studies reported statistically significant improvements in outcomes and were therefore considered as effective [ 34 , 44 – 50 , 52 , 54 – 59 ]. Students’ improvement in nutritional attitudes were reported in pre- and post-course surveys, nine of which achieved statistically significant improvements [ 34 , 44 , 48 , 52 , 54 , 56 , 59 ]; four identified statistically significant improvement in culinary skills [ 52 , 54 , 56 , 59 ], and 10 identified changes in competency providing nutritional counseling [ 35 , 39 , 44 , 48 , 50 , 52 , 55 – 58 ], eight of which were statistically significant [ 44 , 48 , 50 , 52 , 55 – 58 ]. Pre- and post-course surveys from 11 of the included studies identified changes in personal health behaviors [ 34 , 35 , 39 , 44 , 49 , 50 , 52 , 54 , 56 , 57 , 59 ] and two studies reported student improvements in their ability to identify food by visual inspection [ 54 , 57 ].…”

Education Regarding and Adherence to Recommended Nutrition Guidelines among Dental Students

“…However, many new innovations have been developed to teach and integrate nutrition education in medical and dental curricula in recent years [45]. For example, a new interactive teaching and learning platform, "Health Meets Food", features specifically designed online interactive course modules, continuing education credits and online videos to complement and enhance applied nutrition education in clinical training programs, including medicine and dentistry [46,47]. It has been demonstrated that these interactive courses and education modules may improve and achieve dietary sodium recommendations among cardiovascular patients, as well as reducing heart-failure-associated readmissions and improving HbA1c, blood pressure and cholesterol levels for patients with adult onset or Type II diabetes [48][49][50].…”