The Journal of Medical Education and Development

Introduction: Nutrition is one of the important components of health promotion and disease prevention. However, nutrition literacy of medical students is unclear. This study aims to determine nutritional knowledge of medical students studying in clinical course of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in 2012.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 114 medical students in clinical course of Shahid Sadoughi hospital were randomly selected. Nutritional knowledge questionnaire was completed. Each correct answer had one score and wrong answers had no score.

Results: Of 114 students, 69 students (60.5%) were female and 45 students (39.5%) were male with the mean age of 24.1±1.5 year. The mean score of students in basic nutrition, nutrition in the life cycle and diet therapy was 4.6±2.2, 6.2±3.2 and 6.2±3.8, respectively. There was significant association between the score of nutrition course and nutritional knowledge score in all of the fields.

Conclusion: The average of scores was low. Improving the nutrition courses, especially clinical aspects, during clinical education and presence of nutritionist in treatment teams will be helpful.