Food law and policy expert Emily Broad Leib discusses why doctors need to know more about food and nutrition
By Scott Young. Originally published in Harvard Law Today on October 8, 2024
For many of the 256 million Americans with a primary care physician, “the doctor” is their chief resource for reliable medical advice. Recent surveys, however, indicate a startling number of doctors concede they simply do not know enough about nutrition to answer basic patient questions about diet.
To qualify for accreditation, every medical school in the United States must instruct and evaluate students on a wide variety of key “competencies,” or knowledge areas, including disease pathology, diagnostic technology, and patient safety. On the list of proficiencies taught and tested, however, diet and nutrition are nowhere to be found.
Professor Emily M. Broad Leib ’08, faculty director of the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, says that discounting the importance of diet and its obvious impact on patient health has magnified the scope and severity of many modern health challenges. “We know in the U.S., roughly 75% of the population is suffering from diet-related diseases,” she says. “Whether it’s obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or certain cancers, dietary challenges are hurting the majority of Americans and better education would significantly improve outcomes.”
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