Diet-related chronic diseases drive over half of all U.S. deaths, prompting the National Institutes of Health to award $75,000 to the OU Culinary Medicine Program for its innovative medical nutrition curriculum.
Students Learn to Prescribe Whole-Food Diets
- Food as Treatment: Medical and physician assistant students learn to prescribe low-cost, whole-food diets to actively manage complex conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
- Addressing Root Causes: Training starts by examining how community food access and food insecurity directly impact patient health choices and clinical outcomes.
- Hands-On Learning: Students craft healthy, budget-friendly meals inside an on-campus teaching kitchen before applying these exact strategies directly in clinical settings.
The National Institutes of Health selected the University of Oklahoma as a winning institution for its Nutrition Education Challenge, as Norman Transcript reported. The federal competition honors exemplary approaches to nutrition education for medical and nursing professionals. The federal agency granted $75,000 to the OU Culinary Medicine Program, which serves as a cornerstone of the medical training approach at the OU School of Community Medicine in Tulsa.
Accounting for roughly 1.5 million deaths every year, diet-related chronic conditions are responsible for more than half of all fatalities in the United States. The U.S. also spends more than $1.1 trillion annually to treat these conditions, according to the NIH. These statistics show why up-to-date, evidence-based nutrition training for healthcare providers is critical for improving community health.
At the time, it made the medical school one of the first in the nation requiring culinary medicine for medical and physician assistant student learners.
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“We recognized early on that if we wanted to improve Oklahoma’s health outcomes at scale, we needed to first prepare future healthcare professionals to have real conversations about food with patients. Today, the NIH has”
“It’s very rewarding when students share how they’ve started to implement concepts from class in their own lives,” Wetherill told Norman Transcript.
“When future providers experience the benefits of healthy eating firsthand, they’re better equipped to connect with patients when prescribing food as medicine,” Wetherill told Norman Transcript.
The OU Culinary Medicine Program Prepares Learners to Prescribe Nutrition
The OU Culinary Medicine Program prepares learners to implement and prescribe low-cost, whole-food nutrition prescriptions that are used to manage chronic health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer.
Training first begins by understanding how issues such as food insecurity and community food access can impact personal food choices and health outcomes. Students then learn how to create healthy, tasty, and affordable meals at the school’s on-campus teaching kitchen.
The curriculum features four core nutrition prescriptions: fruits and vegetables, lean plant proteins, intact whole grains, and nuts and seeds, all key components of dietary patterns that protect against chronic disease. During their clinical training, students apply these skills by providing patients with nutrition counseling and prescribing them real food that they can take home.
A central part of the OU Culinary Medicine Program’s work is its local partnerships and collaborations. The teaching clinic features a food pharmacy established with the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, distributing healthy foodstuffs to patients.
Expanding the Food Is Medicine Approach
With nearly a decade of program development and experience, the School of Community Medicine has been an early trailblazer in the ‘Food is Medicine’ approach that integrates medically tailored meals, groceries, and produce prescriptions as part of a patient’s medical treatment plan.
“‘Food is Medicine’ is transforming how healthcare organizations, providers and patients approach the management and treatment of chronic disease,” Wetherill told Norman Transcript.
“We’re proud that our program has helped advance this movement through education, clinical innovation, and community-based collaborations. But there’s still a lot of work to be done and we look forward to expanding our i”
Consult a Doctor for Renal or Gastrointestinal Disorders
Patients managing advanced renal disease, severe gastrointestinal disorders, or acute metabolic instabilities should consult their healthcare provider before making major dietary modifications, as sudden shifts in fiber, potassium, or protein intake can interfere with prescribed medical treatments and pharmacotherapy.
References
- National Institutes of Health (NIH). Nutrition Education Challenge.
- University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine. OU Culinary Medicine Program.
- Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. Community Health and Food Pharmacy Partnerships.
