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Nutrition Education for Cardiologists: The Time Has Come

  • Public Health Policy (E Klodas, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Cardiology Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Nutrition is a cornerstone of cardiovascular health, yet the training of cardiovascular specialists in nutrition has been called into question. This report summarizes the current state of nutrition education in the training of cardiovascular specialists and offers recommendations for curricular enhancements.

Recent Findings

Medical students receive an average of fewer than 20 h of nutrition education, largely confined to basic sciences and discussion of vitamin deficiency states. Current guidelines for Internal Medicine residency and cardiovascular fellowship training do not contain any specific requirement for nutrition education. A recent survey showed that the vast majority of cardiologists report having received minimal nutrition training, although most cardiologists believe it is their personal responsibility to provide nutritional counseling to their patients.

Summary

Cardiologists typically receive minimal training in nutrition and are not well equipped to deliver effective nutritional counseling and recognize opportunities for appropriate referral. The potential for cardiologists to become more effective team members in delivering nutritional interventions is considerable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gaples Institute for Integrative Cardiology, Deerfield, IL and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 655 Deerfield Road, Suite 100-328, Deerfield, IL, 60015, USA

    Stephen Devries

  2. Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, USA

    Andrew M. Freeman

Authors
  1. Stephen Devries
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  2. Andrew M. Freeman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen Devries.

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Conflict of Interest

Stephen Devries declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Andrew M. Freeman reports personal fees from Boehringer-Ingleheim.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Public Health Policy

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Devries, S., Freeman, A.M. Nutrition Education for Cardiologists: The Time Has Come. Curr Cardiol Rep 19, 77 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-017-0890-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-017-0890-6

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