[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 17, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES THAT THE UNITED 
 STATES RECOGNIZES THE MOUNTING PERSONAL AND FINANCIAL BURDEN OF DIET-
  RELATED DISEASE IN THE UNITED STATES AND CALLS ON MEDICAL SCHOOLS, 
  GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS, AND OTHER HEALTH PROFESSIONAL 
     TRAINING PROGRAMS TO PROVIDE MEANINGFUL PHYSICIAN AND HEALTH 
              PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION ON NUTRITION AND DIET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Blunt Rochester). Pursuant to House 
Resolution 1119, H. Res. 1118 is considered as adopted.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1118

       Whereas obesity, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, 
     and stroke are among the leading causes of death and 
     disability nationwide and are inextricably linked to diet;
       Whereas poor diet and nutrition have led to epidemic levels 
     of obesity in America, with nearly 40 percent of adults 
     currently obese and models projecting that nearly 60 percent 
     of today's children will be obese by the age of 35;
       Whereas nearly 10 percent of Americans suffer from type-2 
     diabetes and more than one-third have pre-diabetes, compared 
     with less than 1 percent just 50 years ago, and these 
     conditions can be prevented or reversed by the adoption of a 
     healthy diet and an active lifestyle;
       Whereas diet-related cancers are on the rise among young 
     adult populations;
       Whereas increasing rates of cardiovascular disease and 
     diet-related cancers are contributing to the recent declines 
     in life expectancy of the United States population;
       Whereas the economic costs related to--
       (1) diagnosed diabetes exceed $300 billion per year;
       (2) obesity exceed $200 billion per year; and
       (3) cancer care exceed $180 billion per year;
       Whereas the Federal Government bears much of the cost of 
     diet-related diseases as reflected by increased Medicare 
     spending, which in 2019, totaled $800 billion, or more than 
     15 percent of all Federal spending;
       Whereas in the next 10 years, Medicare spending is expected 
     to exceed $1 trillion;
       Whereas much of this increased Medicare spending is 
     directly attributed to the rise of diet-related diseases, as 
     5 of the 8 most common conditions for the 60 million Medicare 
     beneficiaries are diet-related, with one-third of Medicare 
     spending alone devoted to diabetes-related costs;
       Whereas the Federal Government also bears a substantial 
     cost for training physicians who treat patients with diet-
     related diseases, particularly through graduate medical 
     education as--
       (1) Medicare dollars provide the single largest Federal 
     direct funding source for graduate medical education (GME), 
     including residency and fellowship programs, at an estimated 
     $10.3 billion per year; and
       (2) the Federal Government also matches the Medicaid funds 
     that more than 44 States have elected to allocate to GME 
     programs;
       Whereas GME programs receiving Federal funding do not 
     consistently include substantive curricular requirements or 
     performance benchmarks relevant to diet or nutrition;
       Whereas in the absence of Federal requirements, all levels 
     of medical training are largely devoid of nutrition education 
     for medical professionals--
       (1) at the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) level, 
     medical schools devote on average only 19 hours to nutrition 
     science and diet over 4 years, or less than one percent of 
     all lecture hours;
       (2) at the GME level, requirements for nutrition curriculum 
     and competency are limited or absent from the educational 
     standards for key medical specialties, set by the accrediting 
     body, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical 
     Education (ACGME); and
       (3) at the Continuing Medical Education (CME) level, no 
     State requires physicians to take courses in nutrition and 
     diet, though 37 States require training in other areas of 
     medicine;
       Whereas the lack of training in nutrition has contributed 
     to a measurable deficiency in health professionals' knowledge 
     of how diet and food relates to health; for example, only 10 
     percent of surveyed cardiologists report receiving more than 
     minimal education in nutrition as part of their training;
       Whereas medical professionals have cited the lack of 
     nutrition education as a barrier to effectively counseling 
     patients on diet and nutrition and knowing when to refer 
     patients to nutrition professionals, and only 14 percent of 
     surveyed primary care physicians report feeling adequately 
     trained to offer nutrition guidance to their patients;
       Whereas patients reasonably expect their physicians and 
     certain health care specialists to be reliable sources of 
     knowledge regarding nutrition and diet, and are unaware that 
     their physicians may be ill-equipped to even begin to provide 
     useful dietary advice or to make appropriate referrals to 
     nutrition professionals; and
       Whereas there exist numerous opportunities for policy 
     interventions to include education related to nutrition and 
     diet at every level of medical training, at the direction of 
     accrediting and testing bodies, State governments, and the 
     Federal Government of the United States: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of 
     Representatives that the United States should--
       (1) urge that medical schools, residency and fellowship 
     programs, and other health professional training programs to 
     incorporate meaningful nutrition education that demonstrates 
     the connection between nutrition and disease, and develops 
     the skills necessary to initiate meaningful nutrition 
     interventions and referrals;
       (2) support research intended to--
       (A) assess the opportunity for nutrition education across 
     healthcare professionals' training; and
       (B) develop effective curricular interventions to ensure 
     competency in nutrition for physicians and other health 
     professionals;
       (3) support the development and dissemination of best 
     practices and curricular resources to medical schools, 
     residency and fellowship programs, and health professional 
     training programs to support introducing or expanding 
     nutrition education; and
       (4) raise awareness of the critical role that nutrition 
     plays in the health of all patients and the responsibility of 
     practicing physicians, health professionals, and healthcare 
     administrators to assist in promoting healthy choices; to 
     offer patient education and counseling about nutrition.

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