Following successful piloting at the University Medical School Göttingen, two further universities, the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane and the Justus Liebig University Giessen, have started teaching the innovative elective Culinary Medicine for the summer semester 2021. A joint evaluation has been launched. Culinary Medicine translates current nutritional medical findings into the living environments of patients and improves medical counselling competence in nutrition-associated diseases. The indication-related cooking course (Teaching Kitchen) is based on the consensus paper Leitfaden Ernährungstherapie in Klinik und Praxis (LEKuP).
The elective Culinary Medicine was developed at the University Medical Center Göttingen for medical students in clinical semesters and successfully piloted in the winter semester 2020/2021 https://nachrichten.idw-online.de/2021/01/28/culinary-medicine-debuts-as-a-new-elective-for-medical-students-at-university-medical-center-goettingen-germany/?groupcolor=3
At the beginning of the summer semester 2021, two more universities, the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane and the University Medical School of the Justus Liebig University Giessen, have started teaching the innovative elective Culinary Medicine. Both are participating in a joint evaluation.
Culinary Medicine translates current nutritional medical findings into the living environments of patients and improves medical counselling competence in nutrition-associated diseases. The teaching format is an indication-based cooking course (Teaching Kitchen) based on the evidence-based guideline Nutrition Therapy in Clinic and Practice (LEKuP) (Hauner et al. 2019) https://www.dgem.de/pressemitteilungs-archiv-122019 The LEKuP covers all important nutritional medicine indications https://www.dgem.de/sites/default/files/PDFs/Hauner%20H_2019_Leitfaden%20Ern%C3%A4hrungstherapie%20in%20Klinik%20und%20Praxis_LEKuP.PDF
The aim of this cooperation is, on the one hand, to strengthen the importance of nutritional medicine already in medical studies. 70-80 percent of all diseases have a nutritional cause, a nutritional background or a nutritional therapeutic consequence. The consequences of malnutrition, overnutrition or nutritional deficiencies are numerous diseases such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, lipometabolic disorders, coronary heart disease, cancer, cachexia and hormonal disorders. (Memorandum of the Federal Association of German Nutrition Physicians e.V. (BDEM), the German Society for Nutritional Medicine e.V. (DGEM) and the German Academy of Nutritional Medicine e.V. (DAEM) of 30.03.2021 see below). Despite the great importance of better nutritional medical care, nutritional medicine content is underrepresented in medical studies at German universities. The knowledge taught so far during medical studies is not sufficient to guarantee adequate training in nutritional medicine for doctors at the latest scientific level (Memorandum of BDEM, DGEM & DAEM of 30.03.2021 https://www.dgem.de/sites/default/files/PDFs/Memorandum% 20f%C3%BCr%20Lehrst%C3%BChle%20Ern%C3%A4hrungsmedizin_1.pdf
The new elective Culinary Medicine makes an important first contribution to improving the situation for medical students. In 28 course hours, clinical indications based on the evidence-based LEKuP and a practical nutrition therapy derived from it are synergistically brought together. Appropriate case studies complement the teaching.
On the other hand, the multicentre evaluation will explore in detail the effectiveness of the Culinary Medicine course in terms of counselling skills for diet- and lifestyle-related diseases. This also involves raising medical students' awareness of a healthy and sustainable lifestyle in the sense of a Planetary Health Diet (Eat Lancet Commission 2019) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30023-3/fulltext and improving cooperation with other nutrition professions. Questions derived from this will be investigated through doctoral theses at all participating universities.
Until November 2020, the elective subject Culinary Medicine at Göttingen University Medical School was taught with a hygiene concept in presence. Due to the pandemic, the teaching concept was reworked for digital implementation and has been taught exclusively digitally since December 2020. The students are connected to the lecturers in the teaching kitchen via video conferencing software and interactively cook the previously selected recipes in their own kitchen. Both nutritional-physiological and practical-culinary aspects are continuously discussed. The programme starts with a short introductory presentation on the clinical frame of reference.
"We are clearly positively surprised at how well Culinary Medicine can also be taught digitally," says PD Dr med Thomas Ellrott, who heads the project at the University Medical Centre Göttingen. "However, we have noticed that the interactivity between teachers and students decreases significantly when there are more than about 12 students in the online format," Ellrott explains further.
Due to the ongoing tense pandemic situation, the multi-centre evaluation in the summer semester of 2021 will also be carried out in completely digital teaching at all three university locations. All institutions will use the same course materials, conduct the course in the same form (7 course days of 4 teaching hours each) and also use the same specially developed survey for the evaluation so that the collected data can be jointly evaluated and published.
"The excellent cooperation between the universities in this innovative field is part of the intended co-creation process," comments Uwe Neumann, Chairman of the Board of CookUOS e.V., "and we would be delighted if more interested universities joined in."
The model project Culinary Medicine of the Institute for Nutrition & Psychology at the Georg-August-University Göttingen Medical Center, and CookUOS e.V.. (Osnabrück) has been funded by the Rut and Klaus Bahlsen Foundation (Hanover) since December 2019. After evaluation, all teaching materials will be published as open access.
Scientific contact:
At the University Medical Center Göttingen:
PD Dr. med. Thomas Ellrott
Institute for Nutrition and Psychology at the Georg August University Göttingen
Humboldtallee 32
37073 Göttingen
Tel.: +49 551 3967500
thomas.ellrott@med.uni-goettingen.de
Uwe Neumann, Nachhaltigkeitspädagoge
Vorstand Culinary Medicine Deutschland e. V.
Zur Quelle 2a
448341 Altenberge
Telefon +49 541 347513-10
uwe.neumann@culinarymedicine.de
https://culinarymedicine.de
At the Brandenburg Medical School:
Selina Böttcher and Can Gero Leineweber,
Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Karsten H. Weylandt, PD Dr. med. Ulf Elbelt, Dr. med. Christoph Schmöcker
Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane
Fehrbelliner Str. 38
16816 Neuruppin
ernaehrung@mhb-fontane.de
At Giessen University Hospital:
Anna Plogmann (M. Sc. Human Nutrition)
Anja Constien (Dietician, B.A. Medical Education )
Justus Liebig University Giessen
Institute of Family Medicine
Klinikstraße 29
35392 Giessen
Anna.m.plogmann@med.uni-giessen.de
Further information:
https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1030-5207 Hauner H. et al: Leitfaden Ernährungstherapie in Klinik und Praxis (LEKuP). Aktuel Ernahrungsmed 2019; 44: 384-419
http://www.bdem.de/files/mlem.pdf J.G. Wechsler, A. Bosy-Westphal, G. Bönner: Memorandum für Lehrstühle Ernährungsmedizin
https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(19)30023-3 The Lancet Planetary Health: More than a diet