U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday unveiled a broad overhaul of medical training that will make nutrition a core component of physician education. Beginning with college pre-medical programs, curricula will be required to teach diet-based prevention and treatment, and the Medical College Admission Test will add nutrition questions. The initiative is being coordinated with the Department of Education, led by Secretary McMahon, and will eventually extend to medical school, residency, board certification and continuing-education requirements. HHS said the move addresses a longstanding gap: three-quarters of U.S. medical schools do not mandate a nutrition course, leaving most new doctors ill-prepared to counsel patients on diet-related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. Kennedy cited estimates that poor nutrition drives seven of the nation’s ten leading causes of death and that the United States spends more than $4 trillion annually treating largely preventable chronic conditions. By embedding measurable nutrition competencies at every stage of training, the administration aims to equip 1.1 million practicing physicians to “prescribe diets as confidently as drugs,” Kennedy said. Federal officials contend the reforms could curb millions of cases of chronic disease and save the health-care system hundreds of billions of dollars over time.