An initiative to improve nutritional education among medical students

India faces a double burden of Malnutrition-undernutrition and overnutrition. In the medical institutes of India, there are no practice-based teaching methods to instill a greater understanding of the concepts of nutrition and healthy cooking. Hence, we have focused on an initiative named "Diet Demonstration" (DD) that is being practiced in the Department of Community Medicine at a government medical college in New Delhi.

Diet Demonstration is conducted in batches of 30-40 students. This specific exercise was conducted in May 2018. A batch of 35 MBBS students was subdivided into five groups, with 7 students/group. Each group was given a scenario/person with certain health conditions. They formulated a 24-h balanced dietary plan for nutrients and devised a food menu according to the scenario provided to them. The groups procured the raw materials from local markets, prepared the food according to their menu in the home/hostel kitchens. The cooked foods, alongside the equivalent raw materials used for cooking the respective foods, were presented and explained by each group in front of the whole batch and the faculty of the department.

majority of the students opined that it had helped them in understanding nutrition in a better way, practice healthy cooking methods, and to learn the associated practical difficulties while planning and cooking a balanced diet.

Diet Demonstration can be an innovative, cost effective way of inculcating nutrition knowledge and healthy cooking practices among the budding doctors, which needs replicability and feasibility studies in other settings.