Good health starts with good food. Every day, what we put on our plates affects how we grow, how we age and how we deal with disease. Florida State University is working to shift our focus from treating illness to preventing it through strong nutrition research and education.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has encouraged schools to commit to providing at least 40 hours of nutrition education across all four years of medical training. At FSU, we support efforts to make real, wholesome food a central part of public health, and we train future physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nutrition professionals, researchers and other health workers to use nutrition to improve people’s lives. For more than 20 years, nutrition has been a core part of the curriculum at the FSU College of Medicine.
Our curriculum begins with the study of metabolism and an examination of everything we eat: dietary carbohydrates and sugars, fats and proteins, and essential vitamins and minerals. As students progress into more advanced courses and clinical clerkships, they move from foundational science to understanding the important role nutritional health plays in preventing common chronic diseases that cut short the lives of millions of Americans every year. By graduation, they are prepared to weave nutrition into everyday patient care.
The need for this emphasis on nutrition in medical training is clear: Bad food is harming our health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40% of American adults are living with obesity, and almost 10% are severely obese. More than 115 million American adults have prediabetes, the precursor to type 2 diabetes, and most of them don’t know their risk. Substandard nutrition results in an increased risk of diseases like cancer, high blood pressure and heart disease, and costs over $4.5 billion annually.
The hopeful news is that improving diet is one of the most powerful tools we have to improve health, and, with the right support, people can make better choices. Medical students understand this and want to be ready to guide their future patients, so medical schools must give clinicians the skills they need to do that well.
At the institutional level, FSU continues to make investments in connecting nutrition science to health outcomes. The Institute for Connecting Nutrition and Health, or ICON-Health, brings together researchers from across disciplines to tackle the challenges posed by poor nutrition from multiple angles.
Led by National Academy of Medicine member Regan Bailey and National Academy of Sciences member Patrick Stover, ICON-Health focuses on food and nutrition as a daily, modifiable factor in human health. By linking basic science, clinical research and public engagement, the institute positions FSU to contribute meaningfully to national conversations and innovative research around nutrition and health.
The health effects of what we eat are shaped by many forces: supply chains that determine what foods are available, our genes, and the marketing and habits that may nudge us toward a donut instead of a carrot, so nutrition research has to be just as wide‑ranging. ICON-Health’s approach breaks down barriers between disciplines to increase impact.
In the Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, faculty are engaged in research to equip healthcare providers and patients with the latest knowledge for healthy lifestyles. Students are trained not only in the fundamentals of nutrition science and food systems, but also in how those disciplines intersect with physiology, public health and behavior. This integrated approach reflects a simple truth: Nutrition challenges are complex, and solving them requires scientists and clinicians who can think across traditional boundaries.
As the United States faces rising healthcare costs and stubborn levels of chronic disease, nutrition research and education deserve strategic attention. By training the next generation of experts and producing research that translates into healthier lives, FSU is helping ensure that food becomes part of the solution for better health for everyone.
Alma Littles is a medical doctor and dean of the Florida State University College of Medicine.
