Eat This, Not That—Why Medical Schools Should Care About Nutrition | Opinion

I am a 58-year-old physician and have been overweight most of my life. My average Body Mass Index (BMI) is around 27, meaning I am overweight. Despite being a physician for over thirty years, until a few years ago I did not know the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods. Despite exercising diligently, I chose to remain ignorant of the risks and harms of the standard American diet, which is rich in processed carbohydrates and meat and full of fresh fruits and vegetables.

This summer, many Americans are turning to the grill for steaks, burgers, and hot dogs. In addition to red and processed meats, many barbecuers like to pair their meats with high-calorie foods like sugary sauces and marinades. It’s estimated that three in four Americans don’t eat a single piece of fruit on a given day, and nearly nine in 10 don’t meet the recommended daily intake of vegetables. This is despite the World Health Organization’s recommendation to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Being overweight or obese is a serious, common, and costly chronic disease. More than two in five U.S. adults are obese. By 2030, one in two U.S. adults is expected to be obese.

More from the Newsweek Vault: What is a Health Savings Account?

More than 108 million U.S. adults are living with obesity, and more than 1 billion people worldwide are obese. Obesity accounted for an estimated $173 billion in medical costs in 2019.

Recent news that weight-loss drugs, including GLP-1 receptor agonists such as Ozempic and others, are revolutionizing obesity medicine. Some patients lose up to 20 percent of their initial body weight in a year or two on these drugs. But a recent lawsuit against a leading brand raises concerns about this relatively new class of drugs.

More from the Newsweek Vault: Compare the Best Health Savings Account (HSA) Providers

A healthy diet to maintain a healthy weight is the cornerstone of good health. Obesity now kills more people than smoking. Obesity is a risk factor for a number of diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and severe COVID-19, which were the three leading causes of death in the United States in 2021.

The effects of obesity can take years or even decades to show up, but eventually they become inflamed and promote other diseases. Obstructive sleep apnea is a common cause of stroke, heart attack, liver disease, back pain, degenerative joint disease and joint replacements, and diabetes mellitus.

As a doctor, I am ashamed to say that I believed I lived a healthy lifestyle. I was overweight, but I did not smoke, drink excessively, or eat fast food regularly. I also exercised. Yet my family kitchen was full of bread and other dry carbohydrates, and my refrigerator was full of red meat and ice cream.

A year ago, my blood pressure skyrocketed to pre-hypertension levels and my blood sugar rose to pre-diabetic levels. Even though I graduated from and taught at a top medical school, I decided to learn more about nutrition.

While the American Heart Association offers grants to teach nutrition to children in preschool through middle school, medical schools need to provide better nutrition education.

Earlier this year, President Joe Biden announced new ways to tighten school nutrition rules and increase children’s nutritional intake. These programs weren’t available when I was growing up. I ate mostly Korean food as a kid, but by high school my diet included fast food and pizza.

In medical school, I did not focus on the few nutrition courses offered because I felt that topic was much less important than other courses that focused on various organ systems, such as the heart or brain.

More than half of medical school graduates report insufficient time spent on clinical nutrition education. In a striking study of 115 medical doctors, the majority of participants (65.2%) demonstrated inadequate nutrition knowledge, and 30.4% of those with low scores had a high self-perception of their nutrition knowledge.

The important role of medical doctors in addressing nutrition in clinical practice has been recognised by many authoritative professional bodies. Ironically, most doctors often lack the knowledge required to assist a patient in eating healthily and to recognise the importance of food to health.

In a competitive field filled with commercial interests and influencers, it is critical that a doctor be a trusted source of evidence-based nutrition. There are many diets and opinions about what constitutes a healthy diet. I switched to a plant-based diet and my blood pressure and blood sugar are now normal.

Medical school administrators, policymakers, and faculty should challenge current medical curricula and emphasize more nutrition education. Physicians need to evaluate their current knowledge and complete more continuing education courses as needed. Patients need to ask their doctors questions and seek nutrition advice when possible.

These steps could save millions of lives and reduce the obesity epidemic in our country.

Prescott Lee, MD, is a staff physician at Massachusetts General Hospital-North End Waterfront Health, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own.