Nutrition Education
Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM) is committed to preparing osteopathic physicians to recognize, prevent, and help manage nutrition-related disease through evidence-based, patient-centered care. Nutrition education is intentionally integrated throughout the undergraduate medical curriculum, linking foundational biomedical science with clinical reasoning, prevention, lifestyle counseling, population health, and whole-person osteopathic medicine.
The College’s curriculum is designed to support student achievement of the nutrition-related knowledge and clinical competencies that may be assessed within the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) COMLEX-USA examination framework. NBOME does not prescribe a single required nutrition curriculum or mandate a fixed number of nutrition instructional hours for colleges of osteopathic medicine. Rather, NBOME assesses osteopathic medical students through competency-based examination blueprints that include clinical presentations, patient care, health promotion, disease prevention, biomedical science, clinical decision-making, communication, professionalism, and osteopathic principles and practice. Nutrition is therefore taught and assessed as an essential, cross-cutting component of the knowledge and skills needed for safe, effective patient care rather than as an isolated topic.
At LUCOM, nutrition-related instruction is longitudinally incorporated across preclinical and clinical education. Students develop a foundation in nutritional biochemistry, metabolism, energy balance, micronutrients and macronutrients, and the relationship between nutrition and normal physiology. These concepts are subsequently applied to clinical care, including the prevention and management of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke risk, cancer risk reduction, gastrointestinal disease, frailty, malnutrition, pregnancy-related nutritional needs, and other chronic conditions in which diet and nutrition are clinically relevant.
View the LUCOM Nutrition Competency Framework (PDF).
Students are also prepared to:
- Recognize dietary patterns, food insecurity, and social determinants of health that may affect health outcomes.
- Identify patients at risk for malnutrition, obesity, and nutrition-related chronic disease.
- Provide evidence-based, culturally responsive nutrition counseling within the scope of physician practice.
- Use shared decision-making and behavioral-change strategies to support realistic, individualized health goals.
- Collaborate effectively with registered dietitians, nutrition professionals, and other members of the interdisciplinary care team.
- Recognize when specialized nutrition assessment, medical nutrition therapy, or referral is appropriate.
LUCOM also supports the national movement to strengthen nutrition education in medical training. This includes the proposed goal, publicly associated with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s broader prevention and health-policy agenda, of ensuring that medical students receive at least 40 hours of nutrition education during medical school. The College’s integrated curriculum meets or exceeds this 40-hour educational benchmark through required instruction distributed across foundational science courses, systems-based learning, clinical skills experiences, case-based learning, clinical clerkships, preventive medicine, and other longitudinal educational activities.