Nutrition education for medical students. II. Who shall teach it? Within what framework? How?

There exists inadequate recognition, inadequate support, and inadequate attention to the subject of nutrion in medical schools. While progress has occurred in some schools, the teaching of nutrition has not generally been integrated into the curriculum of the medical school. This paper raises the question: Within what framework and how? The author attempts to highlight the role of the nutrition educator in the medical center setting as the health professional to assume leadership. There are signs of renewed interest. Efforts are being made to expand nutritional knowledge in the medical school curriculum. The design of nutrition in the curriculum must reflect the needs of society and of the learner. There must be relevance. The program must be problem-centered, affording the learners the opportunities to engage in the discovery of the role of nutrition in the health of people, the nutritional environment, and the interplay between the two.