Good health starts with good food. Every day, what we put on our plates affects how we grow, how we age and how we deal with illness. Florida State University is working to shift our focus from disease treatment to prevention through robust nutritional research and education.
The US Department of Health and Human Services encourages schools to provide at least 40 hours of nutrition education in all four years of medical training. At FSU, we support efforts that make real, healthy food a central part of public health, and we train future doctors, physician assistants, nurses, nutritionists, researchers, and other healthcare workers to use nutrition to improve people’s lives. For more than 20 years, nutrition has been a core part of the curriculum at FSU’s College of Medicine.
Our curriculum begins with the study of metabolism and the examination of everything we eat: dietary carbohydrates and sugars, fats and proteins, and essential vitamins and minerals. As students progress to more advanced courses and clinical clerkships, they move from basic science to understanding the important role nutritional health plays in preventing common chronic diseases that shorten the lives of millions of Americans each year. Upon graduation, they are ready to transition nutrition into day-to-day patient care.
The need for this emphasis on nutrition in medical training is clear: bad food harms our health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40% of American adults live with obesity, and nearly 10% are severely obese. More than 115 million American adults have diabetes, the precursor to type 2 diabetes, and many are unaware of their risk. Substandard nutrition increases the risk of diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure and heart disease, and costs more than 4.5 billion dollars annually.
The good news is that improving diet is one of the most powerful tools we have for improving health, and with the right support, people can make better choices. Medical students understand this and want to be prepared to guide their future patients, so medical schools must give clinicians the skills they need.
At the institutional level, FSU continues to invest in connecting nutrition science to health outcomes. The Institute for Connecting Nutrition and Health, or ICON-Health, brings together researchers from various disciplines to tackle the challenges posed by poor nutrition from multiple angles.
Led by National Academy of Medicine member Reagan Bailey and National Academy of Sciences member Patrick Storr, ICON-Health focuses on food and nutrition as an everyday, transformative factor in human health. By connecting basic science, clinical research and public engagement, the Institute positions FSU to meaningfully contribute to the national conversation and innovative research on nutrition and health.
The health effects of what we eat are shaped by many forces: the supply chains that determine what food is available, our genes, and marketing and habits that may push us toward the donut instead of the carrot, so nutrition research should be as broad as possible. ICON-Health’s approach breaks down barriers between disciplines to maximize impact.
In Spencer Davis College’s College of Education, Health and Human Sciences, faculty engage in research to equip healthcare providers and patients with the latest knowledge for healthy lifestyles. Students are trained not only in the fundamentals of nutritional science and food systems, but also in how these disciplines intersect with physiology, public health, and behavior. This integrated approach reflects a simple truth: nutrition challenges are complex, and solving them requires scientists and clinicians who can think across traditional boundaries.
As the United States faces rising health care costs and severe rates of chronic disease, nutrition research and education deserve strategic attention. By training the next generation of professionals and producing research that translates into healthy living, FSU helps ensure that food becomes part of the solution to optimal health for everyone.
Alma Littles is a medical doctor and dean of the Florida State University School of Medicine.
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