Fifty Medical Schools in the US Commit to Increasing Nutrition Education Following RFK Jr.'s Appeal

Fifty American medical schools have committed to significantly increasing nutrition education in their curricula, in response to a campaign by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and an agreement with federal agencies. The initiative, announced on March 5, 2026, aims to fill a gap in the training of future doctors, who – according to data – receive on average less than 25 hours of nutrition training during their entire studies. The problem of insufficient nutrition education in medicine has been raised for decades. As far back as a 1985 report, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences pointed to serious deficiencies in this area, which, however, did not translate into systemic changes in the programs of most universities. The commitments of individual schools, including some from the top twenty of the "U.S. News" ranking, include the introduction of mandatory clinical nutrition courses, better integration of this topic into subjects such as internal medicine or pediatrics, and an increase in the number of instructors specializing in this field. Kennedy's campaign, which has publicly pressured deans for months, coincided with the announcement of an agreement between the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the association of medical school deans. This agreement encouraged schools to voluntarily adopt guidelines for increasing nutrition teaching hours. „Doctors are the first line of defense against chronic disease, and yet most of them are almost completely unprepared to talk to patients about what they should eat.” — Independent candidate for President of the United States, initiator of the campaign to increase nutrition education in medical schools. The initiative is directly related to the growing public health crisis in the United States, characterized by an epidemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, the treatment of which places a huge burden on the healthcare system. Experts have long argued that primary care physicians, lacking solid preparation in nutrition, are often unable to provide effective preventive or therapeutic advice, forcing patients to seek information from unverified sources. The success of RFK Jr.'s campaign shows increasing political and social pressure on the medical education system to adapt to contemporary health challenges.