Doctors often lack the nutritional training required to address patient health concerns, despite the clear importance of diet. According to research, 71% of doctors take up to or fewer than 10 hours of nutrition teaching across their degrees, and only 61% feel prepared to address nutrition issues. It would be understandable if you thought that data applied to veterinarians. It actually is about physicians for people, reported by Venya Patel on NutritionInsights.com, citing an expert from the Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN) International.
This disconnect likely starts at the medical school level. Sumati Bajaj, a nutrition knowledge specialist, emphasized the importance of diet as a preventive health tool. “Despite this, current health care systems remain largely reactive, structured around diagnosing and treating disease once it has developed, rather than embedding prevention, including nutrition and healthier food environments, into routine care,” she said.
The lack of nutrition knowledge for physicians doesn’t help, Bajaj added. “This means that even when health care professionals recognize the importance of diet, they may lack the confidence, tools or system support to translate that knowledge into meaningful, patient-centered care.” It all starts, she explained, with how medical education programs are accredited; she cited an article in a BMJ journal showing only 45% of medical education accreditation documents mention nutrition. That influences what medical schools prioritize and shapes what future doctors are expected to know when they enter practice.
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The situation mirrors what is often seen in veterinary schools, where students frequently take only a single nutrition class as part of their education. While some programs are updating their requirements, surveys often reveal a persistent gap in nutritional knowledge among practicing veterinarians. This parallel suggests that the broader medical community—across both human and animal care—struggles to integrate diet into standard treatment plans. The system expects clinicians to add a complex new layer of expertise without providing the necessary educational foundation or time to do it.
Industry response and new initiatives
Health care systems aren’t set up to allow physicians to spend extra time on diets. “With the demands of a clinician’s responsibilities, they may often lack the time, tools and incentives to bring nutrition into routine care,” Patel wrote, then quoted Bajaj again: “The first step is to make nutrition easier to include in routine care, rather than expecting already overstretched clinicians to take on another complex task without support.”
The idea is not that every physician needs to also be a dietician. “It means every doctor should have enough nutrition competence to recognize diet-related risk, start an informed conversation, provide basic evidence-based guidance and refer appropriately,” Bajaj said. The industry is testing culinary medicine as a potential solution, a concept being promoted by PAN International and others. This approach blends cooking classes with medical education, aiming to give doctors practical tools for discussing food.
Related: As Dogs Age So Should Their Food
Culinary medicine may offer a model for veterinary care as well. There is growing interest in non-traditional pet food formats, which could provide an opening for better nutritional integration. For example, Royal Canin recently launched Fresh Veterinary Diets, its first fresh yet fully cooked therapeutic diet portfolio. From my knowledge, it is one of the few such veterinary pet food lines out there. “Veterinarians are having more conversations than ever with pet owners about fresh feeding approaches, particularly when managing a dog’s health condition,” said Jennifer Cullen, general manager, U.S. Veterinary Business Unit, Royal Canin North America, in a company press release.
Major pet food companies have long funded veterinary schools, yet that financial support hasn’t always translated into a measurable increase in nutritional knowledge. The introduction of fresh food formats and new university partnerships suggests that market demand might be the impetus behind a shift. If pet owners demand better nutritional options, veterinary practices may eventually have to adapt their curricula and clinical approaches to match that demand, similar to how human medicine is beginning to explore culinary medicine.
Owners should also consider the specific needs of aging animals. As dogs age, their nutritional requirements change significantly, requiring specialized diets to maintain health and mobility. Proper dietary adjustments can help manage age-related conditions and improve overall quality of life for senior pets.
