MUSC students learn the healing power of food

March 30, 2016

Culinary Institute of Charleston with MUSC students — MUSC students enjoy learning how food can be used as medicine in a new elective course offered as an alliance between MUSC and the Culinary Institute of Charleston. Photo provided

The aroma of garlic fills the room along with the sounds of knives chopping vegetables into julienne strips and olive oil sizzling in pans. Medical students, who have exchanged their white lab coats for white aprons, sprinkle spices into the Mediterranean fare they are learning to cook, including a wild mushroom and sun-dried tomato farrotto.

This is not a typical academic course for these Medical University of South Carolina students, all from varying specialties, but it’s definitely part of a new curriculum they want to learn: the healing power of food.

First-year College of Medicine student Emily Young praised the lessons she’s getting from MUSC Sodexo Wellness Dietitian Debbie Petitpain. “Some of the studies Debbie presented to us showed that diet can be just as effective as the treatment drugs for diabetes.”

MUSC Director of Health Promotion Susan Johnson, Ph.D., is leading the new alliance between MUSC and the Culinary Institute of Charleston. This elective course gives participants the chance to blend culinary lessons with nutritional science. Every Monday over the course of five weeks, 16 hungry students congregate at the Palmer Campus at Trident Tech to prepare healthy meals. The one-credit elective class is taught through the inter-professionals program.

Katie Boland, a fourth-year College of Medicine student, echoed Young’s accolade. “I’m hoping this will provide sample recipes that I can provide patients and I will feel more confident in recommending these recipes having this experience of cooking and eating them.”

This culinary health class ties nicely into one of the key goals of MUSC’s Imagine 2020 strategic plan: creating healthier communities.

The inspiration for the course came during an event Johnson attended in Atlanta. That’s where she heard Tim Harlan, M.D., speak at the Georgia Organic Conference about a program he created at Tulane University focusing on food as a source of healing. Johnson was blown away by Harlan’s culinary medicine pilot program and decided to try something similar at MUSC.

“We want our physicians and our health care providers to become wellness champions and hopefully really change the course of medicine moving forward,” Johnson said. “It’s about helping these physicians and health care professionals gain a different perspective on what it takes to eat healthy, having the skills to cook for themselves and then transferring that knowledge to their patients.”

To put the wheels in motion, Johnson and Michael Saboe, dean of the Culinary Institute, set up a meeting with MUSC president David Cole, M.D., and Trident Technical College President Mary Thornley.

Johnson said they all agreed that cooking at home has become a lost art that’s led to poor eating habits and an upswing in obesity. “I would say a generation ago, we were taking home economics in school, we were learning how to cook, and our mothers were cooking meals at home every day teaching us.” The group saw her idea as a recipe for success for both schools.

Not only is it healthier to cook at home, Johnson said, but studies show it can also prevent disease. But simply cooking isn’t enough. It’s important to choose the right foods. So the MUSC classes focus on specific diets and the parallels with disease prevention. For example, in one class, students looked at the relationship between the Mediterranean diet and diabetes control and prevention. The Mediterranean diet emphasizes whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

Petitpain said people sometimes avoid cooking whole grains because of the time involved. Chef Miles Huff from the Culinary Institute taught the students about batch cooking as a time saving technique that they can also suggest to patients.

Johnson said the culinary course takes students back to the basics. “We’re teaching those skills and giving them the confidence to be able to go to the store and buy fresh ingredients and actually prepare a meal from scratch.”

MUSC students aren’t the only ones who may benefit. As the program evolves it may also be aimed at visiting health professionals who need continuing education credits and become part of a medical education program that health care providers and doctors pay to take for credit.

The diets the program focuses on are well established. The DASH diet, which involves menus with high amounts of fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products, is linked to better cardiovascular health and lower blood pressure. Plant-based diets are designed to help prevent cancer. The Mediterranean diet can help control diabetes, and Volumetrics, which involves eating food containing water in order to feel full and satisfied without high caloric intake, can prevent obesity.

“We are teaching our students to lead by example in terms of their own health behaviors and we anticipate expanding into many, many programs that will impact our community,” Johnson said.

The class is already having an impact at MUSC. Thanks to word of mouth, there’s a long waiting list for next semester. Johnson sees a bright future for it. “This course is just the beginning of something much bigger. I really feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Categories: Education