Culinary Medicine for Health and Disease Management

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Original Editors - Ziya Altug

Top Contributors - Cindy John-Chu, Kim Jackson, Robin Leigh Tacchetti, Robin Tacchetti and Bruno Serra      

 

Introduction[edit | edit source]

According to an article in Critical Care Nursing Clinics in North America, "Culinary medicine uses what is known about the pharmacologic properties of food to treat, manage, and prevent disease."[1]The American Journal of Health Promotion defines culinary medicine as "an evidence-based field of medicine that combines the art of cooking with the science of medicine."[2]Some medical training programs are introducing culinary medicine courses and workshops as a part of nutrition education to improve nutrition in the community.[3][4][5]

A pilot study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that a culinary medicine course improved medical students' knowledge of nutrition.[6]An article in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine outlines an open-source Culinary Medicine Curriculum.[7]An article in Clinical Therapeutics proposes frameworks to include culinary medicine interventions for individuals and organizations.[8]Finally, a pilot study outlines a "hand-on nutrition and cooking curriculum for children of low-income families."[9]

Culinary Medicine for Health and Disease Management[edit | edit source]

Culinary medicine may be used for the following:

Also, cooking classes may be used to improve diet quality in adults and children[13], Mediterranean diet adherence, and food cost savings for families.[14]

Practical Application[edit | edit source]

For an Avocado and Pearl Barley Salad recipe, see the article in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine[15]

Screening Tools[edit | edit source]

Food diary
  • Start The Conversation[16]
  • The 4Leaf Survey[17]: a simple, 12-question, multiple-choice questionnaire that can be completed in two minutes. It was designed to help people estimate the percentage of their daily calories that come from whole plant foods, which are considered to be the healthiest foods. The survey is an important screening tool because it can help individuals and doctors assess their nutritional status and overall pattern of eating. By completing the survey, individuals can see whether they are following a Standard American Diet (SAD) or a Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet (WFPBD).
  • For additional nutrition screening tools, see the article by Berner P, Bezner JR, Morris D, Lein DH. Nutrition in physical therapist practice: tools and strategies to act now.[18]

Related Articles[edit | edit source]

Related Books[edit | edit source]

  • La Puma J, Marx RM. ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine. New York: Crown; 2008.

Resources[edit | edit source]

References [edit | edit source]

  1. LeBlanc-Morales N. Culinary medicine: patient education for therapeutic lifestyle changes. Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am. 2019;31(1):109-123.
  2. Mauriello LM, Artz K. Culinary medicine: bringing healthcare into the kitchen. Am J Health Promot. 2019;33(5):825-829.
  3. Hauser ME. Culinary medicine basics and applications in medical education in the United States. Nestle Nutr Inst Workshop Ser. 2019;92:161-170
  4. Lang RD, Jennings MC, Lam C, Yeh HC, Zhu C, Kumra T. Community culinary workshops as a nutrition curriculum in a preventive medicine residency program. MedEdPORTAL. 2019;15:10859
  5. Pang B, Memel Z, Diamant C, Clarke E, Chou S, Gregory H. Culinary medicine and community partnership: hands-on culinary skills training to empower medical students to provide patient-centered nutrition education. Med Educ Online. 2019;24(1):1630238.
  6. Rothman JM, Bilici N, Mergler B, et al. A culinary medicine elective for clinically experienced medical students: a pilot study. J Altern Complement Med. 2020;26(7):636-644.
  7. Hauser ME, Nordgren JR, Adam M, et al. The first, comprehensive, open-source culinary medicine curriculum for health professional training programs: a global reach. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2020;14(4):369-373.
  8. Irl B H, Evert A, Fleming A, et al. Culinary medicine: advancing a framework for healthier eating to improve chronic disease management and prevention. Clin Ther. 2019;41(10):2184-2198
  9. Marshall H, Albin J. Food as medicine: A pilot nutrition and cooking curriculum for children of participants in a community-based culinary medicine class. Matern Child Health J. 2021;25(1):54-58.
  10. Kalantar-Zadeh K, Mattix-Kramer HJ, Moore LW. Culinary medicine as a core component of the medical nutrition therapy for kidney health and disease. J Ren Nutr. 2021;31(1):1-4.
  11. Allen-Winters S, Wakefield D, Gaudio E, et al. "Eat to Live"-Piloting a culinary medicine program for head & neck radiotherapy patients. Support Care Cancer. 2020;28(6):2949-2957.
  12. Razavi AC, Dyer A, Jones M, et al. Achieving dietary sodium recommendations and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease prevention through culinary medicine education. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):3632.
  13. Hasan B, Thompson WG, Almasri J, et al. The effect of culinary interventions (cooking classes) on dietary intake and behavioral change: a systematic review and evidence map. BMC Nutr. 2019;5:29.
  14. Razavi AC, Sapin A, Monlezun DJ, et al. Effect of culinary education curriculum on Mediterranean diet adherence and food cost savings in families: a randomised controlled trial. Public Health Nutr. 2021;24(8):2297-2303.
  15. Parks K, Polak R. Culinary medicine: paving the way to health through our forks. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2019;14(1):51-53.
  16. Paxton AE, Strycker LA, Toobert DJ, Ammerman AS, Glasgow RE. Starting the conversation: performance of a brief dietary assessment and intervention tool for health professionals. American journal of preventive medicine. 2011 Jan 1;40(1):67-71.
  17. 4Leaf Program. About the 4Leaf Survey [Internet]. United States: 4Leaf Program; [updated 2023; cited 2023 Jun 11]. Available from: https://4leafprogram.com/intro-to-4leaf-survey/
  18. Berner P, Bezner JR, Morris D, Lein DH. Nutrition in physical therapist practice: tools and strategies to act now. Phys Ther. 2021;101(5):pzab061.