The Need for Nutrition Education in Medical Training

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The lack of nutrition education in medical training is a critical issue that warrants immediate attention. In this episode of the NTI PodTalk, we delve into the critical gaps in nutrition training within medical education and the pressing need for healthcare professionals to understand the profound impact of diet on health. As healthcare continues to evolve, it is imperative that we prioritize the integration of nutrition into medical curricula. Join Dianne Koehler for a fascinating conversation with Jenny Breen, a culinary educator and advocate for nutrition in medical training. Learn how Jenny is bridging the gap between food, health, and medical education.

About Jenny

Jenny Breen, Chef, MS Ed, MPH has been working at the intersection of human, community, and environmental health in the Twin Cities and throughout the country for 25 years. She creates custom training and learning experiences focused on personal or professional food, health and sustainability skills, and/or delivering programming and community engagement based in human and planetary health, wellbeing, equity, and justice.

Jenny teaches 3 classes through the Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota, who’s content and classes utilize cooking and basic nutrition information to address all aspects of human and community health including the social determinants of health-environmental and structural barriers within the system that impact people’s abilities to access and implement healthy food and wellbeing behaviors.  While cooking is foundational to the courses Jenny teaches, they also integrate skills and resources to approach systemic change and lead individuals/patients, care teams, practitioners and administrators to collectively impact the upstream effects of SDH on humans’/patients’ health and wellbeing, and to move toward equity that translates to a healthier food system and a healthier community.

To find out more about Jenny’s work, register for classes or contract with Jenny for content creation, training, or speaking, find her at transformingthetable.com 

Jenny and Dianne discuss the critical need for nutrition and culinary education in medical training:

  • 01:40 – Intro: The lack of nutrition education in medical school
  • 03:13 – Jenny’s background
  • 08:58 – Creating culinary classes for health professionals 
  • 12:13 – The Teaching Kitchen Collaborative overview
  • 16:00 – The role of doctors in nutrition education
  • 23:00 – The necessity of cooking skill for health
  • 25:40 – Addressing food access
  • 30:00 – The connection between diet, inflammation, and gut health
  • 37:15 – Food industry influence on health
  • 45:16 – The call for nutrition education in medical schools
  • 51:12 – The importance of federal funding for nutrition education

NTI’s PodTalk is available on all major podcast platformsFind us by searching “NTI PodTalk” in your favorite podcast platform or following any of the links below.

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Google Podcasts

More from people helping bridge the gap:

Protecting Farmers and Their Consumers

Protecting the Organic Food System

Become an Advocate for Yourself!

At Nutrition Therapy Institute, we teach students the ‘what’ and the ‘why’, along with how to evaluate research. It’s important to get informed and make informed decisions about your health and wellness. Become a Nutrition Therapist Master and create a positive impact! Reach out to our admissions counselors now, or attend our informational webinar to discover how you can arm yourself with the essential tools to optimize wellness. Don’t miss out on this chance to make a difference. Take action today!


This discussion is not intended to provide Medical Nutrition Therapy, nor in any way imply that Nutrition Therapists who graduate from NTI are qualified to provide Medical Nutrition Therapy. The scope of practice for graduates of NTI is to deliver therapeutic nutrition guidance to our clients which helps support their natural biology to achieve optimal function in whatever wellness path they are on.

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