Nutrition Education in Medical Schools FAQ

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has called for stronger nutrition education in medical training, including a minimum of 40 hours of nutrition education. This has created a national spotlight on how medical schools can better prepare future physicians to understand the role of nutrition in health and disease.

The Academy and ACEND see this as an important opportunity for nutrition and dietetics programs and RDNs to help shape how nutrition education is developed and delivered.

Representing more than 112,000 credentialed nutrition and dietetics practitioners, the Academy is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. The Academy is well-positioned to connect the right people, resources and expertise to support practical implementation.

This work also aligns with the Academy's broader effort to elevate RDN expertise across healthcare and strengthen understanding of the role nutrition plays in improving health outcomes.

The Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) is helping lead the education-focused components of this work. This includes engaging ACEND-accredited nutrition and dietetics programs, developing a competency crosswalk aligned with the HHS Medical Education Nutrition Framework, and creating microcredential competencies that can help programs support the 40-hour nutrition education expectation.

ACEND is also encouraging nutrition and dietetics programs to consider how they can partner with medical schools or health professions programs to support nutrition education.

At this stage, the Academy and ACEND are not positioning one standard curriculum that every school must use.

Instead, the goal is to identify flexible models and practical pathways that medical schools and nutrition and dietetics programs can adapt based on their structure, resources and existing relationships. These models could include existing courses, guest lectures, modules, case-based learning, interprofessional education, culinary medicine, teaching kitchens, RDN-physician co-teaching or a microcredential pathway.

No. This initiative is not about training physicians or other allied health professionals to practice dietetics or replace RDNs.

It is about raising physicians' baseline understanding of nutrition so they can better recognize when nutrition care is needed, collaborate with RDNs and refer patients earlier and more often.

The microcredential can provide medical schools and health professions programs with a structured, flexible pathway for integrating evidence-based nutrition education into training.

It also gives nutrition and dietetics programs a practical way to partner with medical schools by offering focused learning units, modules or pathways that align with national expectations and keep RDN expertise central to the education model.

There are several possible models, including:

• Existing course enrollment for medical students
• Guest lectures or short modules
• RDN-physician co-teaching, as well as other allied health professional co-teaching
• Culinary medicine or teaching kitchen experiences
• Case-based or block-based integration
• Interprofessional education with medical, nutrition and dietetics, and other health professions students
• Electives, certificates or microcredential pathways
• Clinical experiences focused on nutrition care and referral

There is no single model that will work for every institution.

Medical nutrition education should help physicians understand when nutrition matters, when patients need more specialized nutrition care and when to collaborate with and refer to an RDN.

RDNs are essential educators and care team partners. They bring evidence-based nutrition expertise, clinical training and experience translating nutrition science into individualized patient care.

When physicians and other health professionals have a stronger understanding of nutrition, they are better equipped to identify patients who would benefit from nutrition care. This can support more appropriate referrals to RDNs and stronger collaboration across care teams.

The goal is to help physicians and other allied health professionals understand nutrition as part of patient care while reinforcing that RDNs are the experts in providing individualized, evidence-based nutrition care and medical nutrition therapy.

Programs do not need to have an existing medical school partnership to be part of this effort.

Some programs are already working with medical schools or health professions programs, while others may be interested but are just getting started. The Academy and ACEND want to better understand both groups: those already doing the work and those that need guidance on possible first steps.

Interested programs can begin by assessing what nutrition education resources they already have, identifying nearby medical schools or health professions programs and considering where their faculty, courses or applied learning experiences could support medical training.

Programs already doing this work are important models for the broader effort. The Academy and ACEND want to continue learning from those examples, understand what is working, identify common barriers and highlight practical models that other schools can adapt.

Programs that are already providing nutrition education to medical students or health professions students are invited to share examples with ACEND and the Academy. These examples can help expand and refine case studies and implementation tools, as well as support partner outreach and other communications materials.

Programs should be prepared to share information about their model, who teaches the content, how RDNs are involved, what barriers they faced and what advice they would offer to others.

RDNs and educators can begin by:

• Identifying medical schools or health professions programs in their region
• Assessing existing courses, lectures, labs or applied learning experiences that could support medical nutrition education
• Building relationships with medical school faculty or administrators
• Sharing examples of current partnerships or education models with the Academy and ACEND
• Reinforcing the message that nutrition education should support collaboration with and referral to RDNs

Nutrition is an important part of patient care. Strengthening nutrition education can help physicians and other healthcare providers better recognize when nutrition care is needed, understand how nutrition connects to prevention and disease management, and know when to collaborate with or refer to an RDN.

No. This work reinforces the role of RDNs as the experts in individualized, evidence-based nutrition care and medical nutrition therapy.

The goal is to help physicians and other healthcare providers better understand when nutrition care is needed and when an RDN should be part of the patient care team.

When physicians and other health professionals better understand nutrition, they are more likely to identify patients who would benefit from specialized nutrition care. This can support more appropriate referrals, stronger collaboration across care teams and better access to RDN expertise.

This is an opportunity to raise awareness of the value of RDNs across healthcare and help future physicians and other healthcare providers better understand when and how to involve nutrition experts.

Academy members can support this work by sharing examples, strengthening collaboration with physicians and medical schools, and helping demonstrate how RDNs improve outcomes through evidence-based nutrition care.

Members can identify medical schools, residency programs or health professions programs in their region and explore whether there are opportunities to support nutrition education through lectures, modules, interprofessional learning, culinary medicine, clinical experiences, or other flexible models.

Members should reinforce that nutrition education should support collaboration with and referral to RDNs. This effort is not about replacing RDN expertise. It is about helping future physicians recognize when nutrition care is needed and connect patients with specialized nutrition care when medically appropriate.

The Academy is interested in engaging medical schools, nutrition and dietetics programs, healthcare providers, federal partners, medical education organizations, nutrition-focused organizations, allied health partners and specialty groups with an interest in nutrition, prevention, chronic disease management, and team-based care.

Potential areas of collaboration include implementation models, education resources, referral pathways, research, communications, and policy alignment.

Partner organizations can help amplify the importance of nutrition education in medical and health professions training, share relevant resources, identify successful models, and support collaboration that keeps RDN expertise central to patient care.

The ACEND Nutrition in Medical Education Microcredential is a competency-based framework designed to help ACEND-accredited nutrition and dietetics programs offer focused nutrition education that aligns with existing nutrition and dietetics curricula.

The microcredential provides a structured pathway for learners to build foundational nutrition knowledge, understand nutrition assessment and diagnosis, and recognize the importance of collaboration, referral and patient management.

A microcredential is a short-term, competency-based module or course that validates a focused set of knowledge or skills in a specific subject area. Microcredentials can be offered for credit or not for credit and may be designed to stack toward a larger academic credential.

Unlike a full degree program, a microcredential focuses on a targeted set of competencies. Learners earn the microcredential after successfully demonstrating the required competencies.

The ACEND Nutrition in Medical Education Microcredential is designed first as a framework for ACEND-accredited nutrition and dietetics programs.

The microcredential may also serve other learners who need nutrition education as part of their educational pathway or professional development, including medical students, resident physicians, nurses, physician associates and other healthcare professionals.

No. The ACEND Nutrition in Medical Education Microcredential is a program-level offering, not an individual credential offered directly by ACEND or the Academy to learners.

ACEND developed the competency framework so participating ACEND-accredited nutrition and dietetics programs can offer the microcredential through their own curriculum or learning pathways. Individual learners may complete the program’s required learning units and receive recognition through that participating program, but the microcredential itself is designed as a framework for programs and schools to implement.

This distinction is important because the microcredential is not intended to replace existing professional credentials or function as a stand-alone credential for individuals. Instead, it provides academic programs with a structured, flexible way to deliver focused nutrition education aligned with defined competencies.

Nutrition and dietetics programs can use the ACEND Nutrition in Medical Education Microcredential framework to repurpose existing course content into focused microlearning units. Many programs already have the faculty expertise, course materials, case studies, assignments and assessments needed to support this work.

Programs can begin by mapping existing course content to the microcredential competencies, identifying any gaps and organizing content into a sequenced pathway that supports the required competencies.

No. The microcredential is designed to help programs build on existing nutrition and dietetics curriculum.

Programs can review current syllabi, lecture slides, case studies, assignments and assessments to identify content that already aligns with the microcredential competencies. That content can then be organized into focused modules or units. Any gaps can be addressed through new content development as needed.

The ACEND Nutrition in Medical Education Microcredential framework is organized into three units:

• Foundational Nutrition Knowledge
• Nutrition Assessment and Diagnosis
• Collaboration, Referral, and Patient Management

These units are designed to help learners build a foundation in nutrition, understand how nutrition needs are assessed and addressed, and recognize the importance of collaborating with and referring to RDNs when specialized nutrition care is needed.

The ACEND Nutrition in Medical Education Microcredential is aligned with ACEND curriculum competencies and the HHS Medical Education Nutrition Framework. This alignment helps ensure the microcredential builds on established nutrition and dietetics education while supporting broader national efforts to strengthen nutrition education in medical and health professions training.

Yes. The microcredential framework includes expectations at both the bachelor's and graduate levels. Graduate-level competencies include additional performance indicators that elevate the level of competence.

Programs may choose to align the microcredential curriculum to either the bachelor's or graduate-level competencies and performance indicators, depending on their audience, program structure and goals.

Programs can approach this work in three steps:

• Map existing course content to the competencies. Review current course syllabi, lecture slides, case studies, assignments and assessments to identify content that aligns with one or more microcredential competencies.
• Chunk content into microlearning units or modules. Break mapped content into focused modules, each with a clear learning objective, core content and assessment.
• Organize units into a microcredential pathway. Sequence the units around the framework’s three domains: Foundational Nutrition Knowledge, Nutrition Assessment and Diagnosis, and Collaboration, Referral and Patient Management.

The microcredential is awarded after learners complete the required units and successfully demonstrate the required competencies.

No. The microcredential is not intended to train physicians or other healthcare providers to practice dietetics or replace RDNs.

The goal is to strengthen baseline nutrition knowledge so future clinicians can better recognize when nutrition care is needed, understand the role of RDNs, collaborate with RDNs and refer patients for specialized nutrition care when medically appropriate.

One of the three units in the microcredential framework focuses on collaboration, referral and patient management. This reinforces that nutrition education should help learners understand not only nutrition concepts, but also how to work with RDNs as essential members of the healthcare team.

By building referral and collaboration into the competency framework, the microcredential supports the broader goal of helping clinicians recognize nutrition needs and connect patients with specialized nutrition care.