The Stop Obesity Alliance conducted two surveys: one of primary care physicians and the other of patients, about whether and how patients are counseled to lose weight.  The researchers found that while most doctors want to help patients lose weight and think it is their responsibility to do so, they often don’t know what to say. The vast majority of doctors have little or no training in weight management and nutrition and, they say, they’re not likely to have anyone else in their practice who can be of help.

Read more about the study here.

Part of the reason for this lack of communication with patients is the absence nutrition education in medical schools.  In a study by Adams et al, published in the Journal of Biomedical Education, researchers found that most US medical schools (86/121, or 71%) fail to provide the recommended minimum 25 hours of nutrition education; 43 (36%) provide less than half that much.