Registered Dietitian Nutritionists as Leaders in Lifestyle and Culinary Medicine

Abstract

Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) are uniquely positioned to lead in Lifestyle Medicine, Culinary Medicine and Food is Medicine, overlapping initiatives currently gaining momentum in health care. To become a credentialed practitioner, RDNs must demonstrate competency as outlined in The Scope and Standards of Practice defined by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), the credentialing agency for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Many CDR competencies align with the interventional and operational components necessary to deliver and direct effective Lifestyle Medicine (LM) and Culinary Medicine (CM) initiatives. Capitalizing on the skills and expertise of RDNs trained in LM and CM is an effective strategy to address the Quintuple Aim of better health care outcomes, lower cost, improved patient satisfaction, improved provider wellbeing and the advancement of health equity. Successful examples like Cooking with Plants, Trinity Health Ann Arbor’s virtual CM series, showcase the positive impact of RDN-led CM initiatives on culinary literacy and health behavior change. This article provides an overview of the Cooking with Plants program and practical guidance for initiating similar programs at other institutions. Guidance includes strategies for assessing community needs, identifying funding sources, engaging stakeholders, and developing and evaluating curriculum.

Keywords

dietitian scope of practice dietitian core competencies food is medicine culinary nutrition quintuple aim behavior change virtual culinary education culinary program design

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American College of lifestyle medicine. Accessed 12/13/24. https://lifestylemedicine.org

Mozaffarian

Aspry

Garfield

, et al. “Food is medicine” strategies for nutrition security and cardiometabolic health equity: JACC state-of-the-art review. JACC (J Am Coll Cardiol). 2024;83(8):843-864. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2023.12.023

Become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist . Eatright.org. https://www.eatright.org/become-an-rdn. Accessed December 20, 2024.

Revised 2024 Scope and Standards of Practice for the Registered Dietitian Nutritionist . Commission on dietetic registration scope and standards of practice task force. https://www.cdrnet.org/scope. Accessed December 13, 2024.

McManus

Barkoukis

Burns

Ricelli

McWhorter

Harris

. Preparing registered dietitian Nutritionists for leadership in culinary medicine: opportunities, barriers, and alternatives in registered dietitian nutritionist education and training. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023;123(6):865-870. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2023.01.015

Sun

You

Almeida

Estabrooks

Davy

. The effectiveness and cost of lifestyle interventions including nutrition education for diabetes prevention: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2017;117(3):404-421. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2016.11.016

Chang

Gummo

Yule

, et al. Effects of a dietitian-led, telehealth lifestyle intervention on blood pressure: results of a randomized, controlled trial. J Am Heart Assoc. 2022;11(19):e027213. doi:10.1161/JAHA.122.027213

Sikand

Handu

Rozga

de Waal

Wong

. Medical nutrition therapy provided by dietitians is effective and saves healthcare costs in the management of adults with dyslipidemia. Curr Atherosclerosis Rep. 2023;25:331-342. doi:10.1007/s11883-023-01096-0

10.

Hickson

Wanner

Collinson

. Dietitian-led clinics in primary care: a scoping review protocol. JBI Database System Rev Implement Rep. 2019;17(12):2525-2531. doi:10.11124/JBISRIR-D-19-00025

11.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 - 2025. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture. 2020. Accessed December 20, 2024.https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/sites/default/files/2020-12/Dietary_Guidelines_for_Americans_2020-2025.pdf

12.

2021 Community Health Needs Assessment. Accessed December 19, 2024. 828987d8db0ebb9196da2a46f9fb22a3.pdf.

13.

CHNA Implementation Strategy FY 2022 – 2024. Accessed December 19, 2024.e835ef11a57f0592a6a21e434294d7a2.pdf.

14.

Biden-harris administration national strategy on hunger, nutrition, and health. Accessed December 19, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/White-House-National-Strategy-on-Hunger-Nutrition-and-Health-FINAL.pdf

15.

Razavi

Monlezun

Sapin

, et al. Etiological role of diet in 30-day readmissions for heart failure: implications for reducing heart failure-associated costs via culinary medicine. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2019;14(4):351-360. doi:10.1177/1559827619861933

16.

Razavi

Dyer

Jones

, et al. Achieving dietary sodium recommendations and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease prevention through culinary medicine education. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):3632. doi:10.3390/nu12123632

17.

Monlezun

Kasprowicz

Tosh

, et al. Medical school-based teaching kitchen improves HbA1c, blood pressure, and cholesterol for patients with type 2 diabetes: results from a novel randomized controlled trial. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2015;109(2):420-426. doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2015.05.007

18.

Sharma

McWhorter

Chow

, et al. Impact of a virtual culinary medicine curriculum on biometric outcomes, dietary habits, and related psychosocial factors among patients with diabetes participating in a food prescription program. Nutrients. 2021;13(12):4492. doi:10.3390/nu13124492

19.

Wood

Stone

Siler

Goldstein

Albin

. Physician-chef-dietitian partnerships for evidence-based dietary approaches to tackling chronic disease: the case for culinary medicine in teaching kitchens. J Healthc Leader. 2023;15:129-137. doi:10.2147/JHL.S389429

20.

Thomas

McManus

Badaracco

MacLaren

Mason

McWhorter

. Registered dietitian Nutritionists taking the lead in teaching kitchens. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023;123(10):1393-1405. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2023.07.006

21.

Reicks

Kocher

Reeder

. Impact of cooking and home food preparation interventions among adults: a systematic review (2011 - 2016). J Nutr Educ Behav. 2018;50(2):148-172. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2017.08.004

22.

Brennan

Beals

Burns

, et al. Impact of culinary medicine course on confidence and competence in diet and lifestyle counseling, interprofessional communication, and health behaviors and advocacy. Nutrients. 2023;15(19):4157. doi:10.3390/nu15194157

23.

Charitable Hospitals - General Requirements for Tax-Exemption under Section 501(c)(3). Internal Revenue Service. Accessed December 19, 2024. https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-hospitals-general-requirements-for-tax-exemption-under-section-501c3

24.

National Council on Aging . Tip Sheet: Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT). Community Integrated Healthcare News. July 26, 2021. https://www.ncoa.org/article/medical-nutrition-therapy-mnt-tip-sheet/ . Accessed February 3, 2025.

25.

S.3297 - Medical Nutrition Therapy Act of 2023. Congress.gov. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/3297. Accessed December 19, 2024.

26.

American College of Lifestyle Medicine . Lifestyle medicine shared medical appointments. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WGRzeyzxu9y053BYtIz_tsj6wtT-03zm/view. Accessed December 19, 2024.

27.

Albin

Siler

Kitzman

. Culinary medicine eConsults pair nutrition and medicine: a feasibility pilot. Nutrients. 2023;15(12):2816. doi:10.3390/nu15122816

28.

Coding4Food . Medically supported food and nutrition – California. 2024. https://www.msfnca.org/coding4food

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.14 MB

0.00 MB