AROUND-TOWN

LSU medical students study nutrition at Nicholls

Jacob Batte Nicholls State University
Nicholls culinary department head Chef John Kozar (left) and assistant professor Chef Don Kasten answer a question from LSU Health New Orleans student Kelsey Lacourrege about a tabbouleh salad aimed to prevent and control hypertension, which the med students were learning to prepare. [Cain Madden/Nicholls State University]

Nine students from LSU's Medical School in New Orleans are at Nicholls State University for a two-week course that blends the art of cooking with the science of nutrition.

The culinary medicine course, a partnership between the two schools, started July 1.

Culinary medicine encourages doctors in training to learn more about food and work with nutrition professionals to prevent and treat their patients’ illnesses.

LSU's students are taught the science of nutrition during their first and second years of medical school, but the third-year students in the course at Nicholls get a chance to translate that learning into practical knowledge, said Dr. Catherine Hebert, associate professor of clinical medicine and co-director of clinical sciences curriculum at LSU Health New Orleans.

“It is not just about telling a patient to cut out salt and fat," Hebert said. "It is about teaching them how to do this in a way that is realistic given the time and money constraints that we all face.”

Students begin the day in the classroom, learning nutrition theory through lectures, case studies and simulations covering ailments such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and obesity. They’ll also take field trips to Rouses with a Registered Dietitian, tour the kitchen at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center and test their new nutritional knowledge at local restaurants.

In the afternoon, students will move to the kitchens to learn basic culinary skills and relevant recipes from chefs and culinary professionals at Nicholls' Chef John Folse Culinary Institute.

“We have selected recipes and dishes that are appropriate to the nutrition content being taught in the morning,” Nicholls Culinary Department Head Chef John Kozar said. “Let’s say they learn about diabetes in the morning, we will work on dishes appropriate for a diabetic patient in the afternoon.”

Eating patterns and specific foods have shown effectiveness in treating some cases of rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy, cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, metabolic syndrome and acute cough, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

“This is an exciting opportunity for both Dietetics and the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute to have an even bigger impact on the community,” said Brigett Scott, associate dean of Nicholls' College of Science and Technology and associate professor of dietetics. “What people eat has one of the biggest impacts on their health. Ultimately, the goal is that these future doctors will practice in Louisiana and promote the nutrition and culinary skills they learned to make an impact on the health of our community.”