Revival Strategy 1 BRIEF: Integrating Nutritional Therapy Practices into Board Exams

What if the prescription pad had a section for a grocery list?

America’s chronic disease crisis is inseparable from the current nutrition crisis. Yet most doctors graduate with less than 20 hours of nutrition training. It’s time to fix that—starting where it matters most: medical school.

Revival Strategy Core Goal

Develop and require accredited, evidence-based nutrition therapy training for all U.S. medical students by 2028, with board certification standards including nutrition competency by 2030. Once the training curriculum is released, requirements for all health-related educational institutions, including NP, RN, LPN, EMT, chiropractic, etc. will begin deployment without delay.

Key Tactics

• Require Nutrition Curriculum in all accredited medical schools by 2028, enforced through federal funding levers.
• Update Board Exams (USMLE, specialty boards) to test applied nutrition skills and chronic disease prevention and reversal therapies.
• Create CME Pathways for current physicians to earn credentials in nutritional therapy by 2027.
• Recruit a National Panel of medical, nutrition, and functional medicine experts to define standards.
• Fund Pilot Programs between med schools and culinary medicine centers to demonstrate health impacts and outcomes.

Replicate and Scale Using Success Models

• Tulane’s Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine
• USC Greenville Lifestyle Medicine Curriculum
• Alice L. Walton School of Medicine
• Veterans Affairs Whole Health Program
• Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)

Definition of Success

By 2030, all rising U.S. board-certified physicians are trained and tested in evidence-based nutritional therapy. Clinical nutrition becomes a core competency—not an elective—across medicine.

Why It Matters Now

• 81% of Americans believe food is medicine.
• Nutrition-first care lowers costs and improves outcomes.
• The next generation of med students is demanding change.
• Political momentum has arrived.
• The two industries most affected by AI will be medicine and education

Let’s make nutrition literacy a clinical requirement—not an exception.
Because when future doctors understand what’s on their own plate, they’ll better understand what’s on ours.

View the detailed proposal.

Truth, Clarity, & the Fine Print

Are You Interested in Making a Difference? Click here to get involved with the LBNC Ten Year Health Transformation Challenge. Let’s work together to make the U.S. the 4th healthiest nation in the world by 2035.

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Medical Disclaimer: Only licensed MDs are authorized to make medical claims. We connect you with professionals trained to support and optimize your health outcomes. Always consult your physician — ideally one trained in functional medicine — or another qualified provider regarding any medical concerns.

Editorial Disclaimer: Our Take is an opinion series from the Life by Natural Causes (LBNC) team, offering our perspective on health, wellness, and the systems that shape them. Grounded in research and real-world experience, these views reflect our mission to inspire healthier outcomes. We invite you to reflect—and share your take with us.