Nutrition, diet and lifestyle should become core components of clinical practice and undergraduate medical education to strengthen India’s preventive healthcare system, NITI Aayog Member Dr M. Srinivas, former AIIMS director, said at a national symposium hosted by AIIMS New Delhi earlier this week
Speaking at the inaugural session of the symposium, “Lifestyle & Diet: Nutrition, Wellness and Clinical Practice”, held on July 28, Dr Srinivas said healthcare delivery must move beyond treatment-focused approaches and place greater emphasis on prevention through nutrition and healthy lifestyles
“Scientific evidence now leaves little doubt that food, nutrition and lifestyle are among the most powerful determinants of health,” Dr Srinivas said in the foreword to a textbook released during the event. However, he noted that these subjects receive “far less attention in undergraduate medical education than they deserve.”
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He called for integration of nutrition, diet and healthy lifestyle education into mainstream medical curricula to equip future doctors with the skills needed for preventive and holistic patient care
The symposium, organised by the Department of Physiology at AIIMS New Delhi in collaboration with the Food Future Foundation under the Coalition for Food Systems Transformation in India (CoFTI), brought together clinicians, nutrition scientists, medical educators and policymakers to discuss the role of emerging evidence in reshaping medical education and clinical practice
Scientific sessions covered nutrition-based interventions for conditions such as epilepsy, autism, obesity and metabolic disorders, while another session focused on healthier food reformulation. Experts presented research suggesting that monosodium glutamate (MSG) can help reduce sodium in foods without compromising taste, and cited evidence indicating that MSG is safe for the general population when consumed within established dietary limits
The symposium concluded with a consensus that integrating nutrition and lifestyle medicine into medical education is essential for building a more preventive and patient-centred healthcare system
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- AIIMS
