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UAMS Dietetics Through the Decades: The Dietetics Internship Program in the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition of the College of Health Professions celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding.
| Alumni, faculty and students celebrated the double birthdays of programs in the UAMS College of Health Professions Department of Dietetics and Nutrition on March 10th.
College and university leaders spoke on Zoom about the history and achievements of the programs celebrating their 50th anniversaryth Anniversary of the Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition course.
Minutes after the online celebration, Cara Ebbeling, Ph.D., gave a Zoom presentation on “Two Decades of Studying Low Glycemic Load Diets for Weight Management: What Will We Know in 2022?”
Ebbeling is Co-Director of the New Balance Foundation’s Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
anniversary celebration
In its 50 years, the internship has trained more than 700 people in preparation for a career as a nutritionist and more than 100 master’s students in various areas of clinical nutrition.
Faculty, students, alumni and UAMS leadership came together for a live video stream on March 10th to celebrate the anniversaries.
“Our graduates have touched countless lives through five decades of applied learning, research and outreach,” said Reza Hakkak, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition. “I am confident that we will continue to play a significant role in the evolving health conditions in Arkansas and the nation.”
Hakkak has taught at the faculty for 30 years and was its chair for 25 years. He said it’s impossible to enumerate in one presentation all the ways he’s seen the programs mature and expand, but he did share a standout moment with the audience during an accreditation visit a few years ago.
“Visitors to the Dietetics Internship website have reported their findings to the chancellor and leadership,” Hakkak said. “Everyone was in the room and the Chancellor had a page in front of him at the time. He said, “This is empty. Where is the report?’ The site visitor said: “There is nothing to report. This is an excellent program’ and they started talking about the strengths of our program.”
Chancellor Cam Patterson, MD, MBA, has renewed the focus on the central role of healthy eating in overall individual health and well-being, Hakkak said.
Patterson addressed online audiences in a pre-recorded video.
“The work of the dieticians and nutrition specialists who complete these programs will play a key role in the prevention and treatment of diet-related diseases and chronic conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease,” said the Chancellor. “Nutritional intervention and nutritional counseling are important components of health plans at all stages of life.”
Two years ago, the UAMS launched a Culinary Medicine program to teach students and residents how to educate their patients about nutrition and incorporate it into their future medical practice, building on the many years Hakkak and the department’s faculty members have been doing the same medical and other FH students.
“If the UAMS is to meet the population health goals in the Vision 2029 strategic plan to reduce health inequalities in Arkansas, if we are to meet our state’s health care workforce needs, and if we are to produce nutritionists who seek to advance the knowledge of food as medicine , we need these programs to continue to grow and thrive,” said Stephanie Gardner, Ed.D., Pharm.D., Chief Strategy Officer.
Robert McGehee, Ph.D., Dean of UAMS Graduate School, noted that while humankind has been studying nutrition since the dawn of time, the science of nutrition is a relatively new field.
“Only in the last 50 years have we been able to provide patients and population groups with accurate information about what constitutes good nutrition,” McGehee said. “Every year we learn so much more that we don’t know. I would argue that nutritional science is still in its infancy. We still have a long way to go, but what a remarkable anniversary to celebrate today.”
Despite its relatively young existence as a science, dietetics and nutrition as a discipline continues to diversify and find new areas of application.
“Professional opportunities are emerging in areas such as marketing, advertising, sales, journalism, sports nutrition and many more,” said Susan Long, Ed.D., dean of the UAMS College of Health Professions. “As these opportunities expand, faculty will focus on preparing the next generation of dieters for these new roles. The program continues to be adapted and transformed to meet the needs of students and employers.”
Among the other members of the College’s and Department’s leadership and faculty who spoke at the celebration of the anniversaries were Tina Maddox, Ph.D., Associate Dean of the College at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus; Courtney Fose, MS, RD, Director of Dietetics Internship Program; and Lesley Jones, MS, RD, a program educator.
Nutrition seminar series
“I would like to say how honored I am to have been invited to celebrate National Nutrition Month, March 50th 2022th Anniversary for the nutrition internship program and your 30th Anniversary for the Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition course,” said Cara Ebbeling during her presentation in the nutrition seminar. “Congratulations and best wishes for many more successful years in Arkansas.”
Hakkak created the seminar series more than 21 years ago to bring the university’s academic community the latest knowledge and understanding of clinical nutrition in language and communication understandable to healthcare professionals outside of the fields of dietetics and nutrition.
Ebbeling said the low-glycemic model has been the focus of much of her own research. In this model, the quality of the carbohydrates a person eats plays a key role as it can promote insulin secretion, which directs metabolic fuel to fat storage.
“Hunger increases and energy consumption decreases, leading to a positive energy balance. In this model, positive energy balance does not lead to an increase in obesity,” she said.
Although there is much debate between proponents of the “conventional model based on calories eaten and burned” and scientists like her who explore the carbohydrate-insulin model, there are points of agreement, Ebbeling said. These are:
- Diets with widely varying macronutrient composition can lead to weight loss in the short term.
- Compliance with all dietary regulations is an important factor that determines the effectiveness of weight loss treatments
- Treatments to maintain weight loss over the long term are highly ineffective.
A hybrid eating plan that combines the two schools of thought can help resolve the debate. Both could work together to promote increased body mass, she said.
In the meantime, Ebbeling said she has some specific recommendations for dietary changes for weight loss and overall health. This includes reducing consumption of refined grains, potato products, and added sugars, which have a high glycemic load and low nutritional quality.
“We emphasize low-glycemic carbohydrate sources, including non-starchy foods like legumes and non-tropical fruits,” she said. “We recommend whole kernels or traditionally processed alternatives like whole barley, quinoa and traditionally fermented stone flour sourdough.”
Ebbeling added that increasing consumption of nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil and other high-fat foods, and maintaining adequate but not excessive protein intake also contribute to a healthy lifestyle.
During a question-and-answer session, Hakkak asked Ebbeling if she would recommend nutrition education and follow-up consultations with registered dietitians to remind patients to keep losing weight.
“Continued support is absolutely necessary,” said Ebbeling. “What we’re trying to do with these low-glycemic approaches is to curb hunger and increase satiety to make it easier to stick with over the long term. We’re not saying, “Here, do this and the weight will come off.” There’s still an adherence component, a behavioral health component, and environmental influences. When we promote low glycemic index diets, it doesn’t take away the need for peer support.”