الفهرس 
Review of literature
The Double Burden of Undernutrition and OverweightOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Nutrition is an integrated discipline focused on the role of
diet in the prevention and treatment of disease. Diet contributes
to 8 of the 10 leading cause of death in the United States, and
now obesity has reached epidemic proportion in both adult and
pediatric population. Physicians play the major role in helping
people with nutritional concerns.
The knowledge of the physicians is a basic factor in the
health care system, thus physicians need an advanced
knowledge of nutrition and high level of skills to deal with the
majority of health care problems, and to address the nutritional
problems in the global terms. The gap in the nutritional
knowledge of the physicians will negatively influence the
effective health care as they are influential in educating patients
to change their dietary habits in order to improve their patient’s
health.
This study is an attempt to evaluate the attitude of the
physicians regarding the importance of nutrition in medicine
and to assess their knowledge level and if they are satisfied with
their knowledge level and with the curriculum they studied.
Nutrition attitudes and satisfaction were measured by
using a previously validated questionnaire. Knowledge was
assessed with a multiple-choice quiz. Subjects were asked
whether they had any recommendations.The main results of the study were:
Almost all physicians had positive attitude towards the
importance of nutrition in medicine, they scored 75%
50% of the physicians doubt the patient compliance if they
offered them the nutritional counseling
50% of the physicians had doubts about their ability to
deliver the nutritional advice (low self- efficacy)
Almost all of them consider time as an important tool in the
quality of the nutritional advice.
Internist, pediatricians, obstetricians, and family medicine
physicians had the highest attitude.
The younger physicians have positive attitude towards the
importance of nutrition in the medical practice than the
older physicians.
The knowledge of the physicians is considered inadequate,
they scored 55.6%
The knowledge level of the physicians was poor (50%>)
in the fields of biochemical structures of different types
of fat, the role of soluble fiber in lowering blood
cholesterol level, omega-3 fat in preventing thrombosis,
and the effect of short term dieting on metabolism.
The knowledge level of the pediatricians, obstetricians,
family, and internist t was the highest. Practicing and the working in the field couldn’t improve
the knowledge of the physicians.
Female physicians and those of older ages with post
graduate studies had better knowledge
Physicians are not satisfied regarding their nutritional knowledge
level, the satisfaction percentage score of the physicians was 44%
83% of the physicians are not satisfied regarding the
quality of the studied nutritional knowledge curriculum.
80% of them are not satisfied regarding the quantity of
the studied nutritional materials.
85% of the physicians considered time devoted to the
nutritional education is not sufficient.
90% of the physicians reported time as a common barrier
that affect the nutritional education.
10% reported many other factors as staff experience, lack
of good curriculum, and the lack in the physicians’
interest in nutritional education.
Physicians of the older age are more satisfied regarding
the nutritional education than the younger group.