Four years' experience of an undergraduate medical nutrition course

In 1992 the medical colleges of The Royal London and St Bartholomew's hospitals launched a new curriculum in which basic medical sciences were to be integrated with early exposure to clinical medicine in the first phase. The curriculum was to be modular and integrative, combining clinical and medical-science-based teaching of body systems, rather than the traditional teaching by departmental discipline. We describe the inception, content and evaluation of a 7-day course on nutrition which was developed as part of this curriculum. It was rated highly by the students, whose feedback led to important modifications. The programme works well in practice, and could provide a useful guide for other schools about to set up nutrition courses for medical students.