Nutrition

Nutrition in Medical Education at LMU-DCOM

How Nutrition is Taught Across the Four-Year Curriculum

A comprehensive nutrition education does not occur in a single course. At LMU-DCOM, nutrition education is disseminated throughout the four-year undergraduate medical education curriculum via integration into the basic sciences, the systems, and the clinical sciences as well as clinical experiences. The goal is straightforward: presenting nutritional education in an integrated fashion to promote repetition, retainment, and integration into practice.
OUR APPROACH

Integrating Nutrition Into the Curriculum, Not On Top of It

Rather than packaging nutrition into a standalone course, LMU-DCOM integrates it across the core preclinical disciplines. The molecular mechanisms of metabolism appear in biochemistry. Nutrient absorption is addressed in histology and physiology. Drug-nutrient interactions are examined within pharmacology.

This integration is intentional — a commitment to treating nutrition and dietary understanding as clinical competencies physicians will draw on at the bedside, not merely topics recalled for an exam. By the time students complete their preclinical years, nutrition is no longer a discrete topic — it is ingrained in how they think about patient care and further emphasized with continued nutritional education in the clinical years.

"The result is strong, clinically relevant foundation that prepares future physicians to use nutrition as a powerful tool in patient care."

 

PRECLINICAL YEARS · OMS-I & OMS-II NUTRITION CONTENT SUMMARY

6

OMS-I

COURSES

 

17
UNIQUE COMPETENCY ADDRESSED

 

13

OMS-II

COURSES

 

38
UNIQUE COMPETENCY ADDRESSED

 

40
COMBINED
UNIQUE COMPETENCIES

01 · PRECLINICAL YEAR ONE

First Year: Building the Science Basics

02 · PRECLINICAL YEAR TWO

Competency Framework Coverage at a Glance

Based on the HHS Medical Education Nutrition Competency Framework — years 1 and 2 combined

 DOMAIN

 

TOPICS COVERED 

 

YEARS 

Domain 1: Foundational
Nutrition Knowledge 

 

Macronutrients, micronutrients, drug-nutrient interactions, metabolism, epigenetics, microbiome, hormonal signaling

 

Y1, Y2 

Domain 2: Nutrition Assessment and Diagnosis

 

Dietary history integration, BMI/body composition, biomarker panels, CGM interpretation, malnutrition risk, physical exam 

 

Y1, Y2 

Domain 3: Food and Nutrition-Related Communication

 

Evidence-based patient counseling, behavior change models, motivational interviewing, mindfulness-based eating 

 

Y1, Y2 

Domain 4: Collaborative, Interprofessional Referral

 

Multidisciplinary nutrition care, appropriate referral strategies

 

Y2

Domain 5: Public Health Nutrition

 

Food insecurity screening, community referrals, food access assessment

 

Y2

Domain 7: Medical Interventions + Lifestyle

 

GLP-1 counseling, disease-specific dietary reversal protocols, nutraceuticals, CGM-guided diet, longitudinal monitoring

 

Y1, Y2

Domain 8: Personal Food & Lifestyle Behaviors 

 

Physician self-care, personal health factors, modeling patient-centered behaviors 

 

Y2 

Domain 9: Food Systems and Environmental Impacts 

 

Healthy food environments in healthcare delivery settings 

 

Y2 

CLINICAL YEARS · OMS-III & IV

Expanding Nutrition into the Clinical Years

Where things stand now, and where we are headed

Clinical rotations in the OMS-III and OMS-IV curriculum inherently include some nutrition exposure. However, starting in the Fall of 2026, we intend to implement a more intentional longitudinal nutrition curriculum using Essentials of Clinical Nutrition in Healthcare, available through the LMU library. Under this plan, 22 chapters (assigned as 2–3 chapters at a time) will be distributed across the required OMS-III and OMS-IV rotations.

22

CHAPTERS ASSIGNED

 

45
COMPETENCY DESCRIPTIONS ADDRESSED

 

 

45h
HOURS OF CONTENT 

The Bigger Picture

Nutrition intersects with nearly every dimension of patient health (e.g., chronic disease, mental health, pharmacology, socioeconomic circumstances and cultural identity). A physician who can engage patients in meaningful, grounded conversations about nutrition and diet is not simply a more effective preventive care provider; they are a more trusted one.

That is the central goal of this curriculum. Not to produce graduates who can recite macronutrient ratios, but to develop clinicians who meet patients where they are and help them change utilizing the knowledge, confidence, and sensitivity they develop in the undergraduate medical education at LMU-DCOM.