Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

2. Historical Perspective
Pages 9-28

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 9...
... Today, specific courses that teach the science of nutrition are found in a minority of U.S. medical schools.
From page 10...
... characterized medical education in the United States as lacking structure, uniformity, and a strong scientific base. THE GOLDEN AGE OF NUTRITION Following investigations during the first two decades of this century on metabolism and energy requirements by the distinguished nutritional physiologists Graham Lusk and Wilbur Atwater arid the vitamin hypothesis proposed by Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, medical educators increasingly began to support the teaching of nutrition principles (Derby, 1977~.
From page 11...
... Council on Medical Education and Hospitals among other tasks studied the role of nutrition in medical education. The council reported that all but three medical schools in the United States taught a basic biochemistry course during the first year and those three schools taught it in the second year (Weiskotten _ al., 1940~.
From page 12...
... The relevance of nutrition to clinical medicine was further diminished as medical practice shifted toward therapeutics and the use of new technology and away from prevention and comprehensive care. Results from a survey of medical schools in 1958 indicated that 12 of 60 schools (20%)
From page 13...
... medical schools received "inadequate recognition, support and attention (White et al., 1961~In 1963, as a result of this evaluation, the AMA council and the Nutrition Foundation sponsored a nationwide conference in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, that enabled practicing physicians, teaching and research scientists, and administrators from medical schools and granting agencies to share ideas about improving nutrition in medical education. In their recommendations (AMA, 1963)
From page 14...
... Although some medical schools showed progress in improving nutrition education during the decade following the Chicopee Conference by developing specific courses or programs (Christakis, 1972; Frankle et al., 1972; Harlan, 1968) , many of the recommendations, such as the development of specific departments and faculty positions, were not widely implemented (Mueller, 1967~.
From page 15...
... medical schools, and 118 schools responded. Although the survey findings appeared to show a slight increase in the amount of nutrition information presented in medical school curricula since 1976 (25% of schools required a course in nutrition)
From page 16...
... For example' they reported that were no questions on Recommended Dietary Allowances and nutritional assessment, and several questions addressed acute nutritional deficiency diseases that were primarily a health problem outside the United States. At the same time as the Congressional hearings on the adequacy of medical education, the first Surgeon General's report on health promotion and disease prevention was released (DREW, 1979a)
From page 17...
... The workshop part icipants explored the educational needs of physicians at various levels of training and recommended specific courses and teaching methods for improving the teaching of the relationship between nutrition and cancer in medical education. Each year since its inception in 1977, NIH's Nutrition Coordinating Committee prepares the Annual Report of the NIT Program in Biomedical and Behavioral Nutrition Research and Training for the preceding year, which summarizes major research achievements and directions for future research.
From page 18...
... indicates that only 22% of medical schools have a clearly defined course in nutrition. Not surprisingly then, the majority of graduating medical students responding to recent annual AAMC Graduation Questionnaires (AAMC, 1981, 1982a, 1983b, 1984a)
From page 19...
... medical schools, once a major part of the curriculum during the early l900s, began to diminish following the isolation and identification of the essential nutrients and the belief that no further advances in nutrition were likely. Major advances in nutrition science and technology did occur during the middle of this century, but these advances were not accompanied by an increased emphasis on nutrition in medical education.
From page 20...
... The first stage began in the early 1900s and included the discovery of vitamins, the elucidation of many of the basic nutrient requirements, and the widespread teaching of nutrition principles in medical schools. Derring the second stage, the research emphasis shifted to the molecular basis of nutrition and subcellular function, and the perceived importance of nutrition education for physicians declined.
From page 21...
... Annual Medical School Questionnaire. Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, D.C.
From page 22...
... 1977. The renaissance of nutrition education.
From page 23...
... Joint Subcommittee on Human Nutrition Research of the Committee on Health and Medicine and the Committee on Food and Renewable Resources. Federal Coordinating Council on Science, Engineering, and Technology, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President.
From page 24...
... 1972. Nutrition education in the medical school: Experience with an elective course for first-year medical students.
From page 25...
... Nutrition Education: Medical School and Health Care Training. Hemisphere Publishing, Washington, D.C.
From page 26...
... 1979. Nutrition Education in Medical Schools.
From page 27...
... 1972. Conference on Guidelines for Nutritional Education in Medical Schools and Postdoctoral Training Programs, June 25-27, 1972, Williamsburg, Virginia.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.