The founding mission of Nutritank C.I.C. was an aspiration to increase and improve nutrition education within the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum. Since May 2018, Nutritank has been a member of the AfN’s Interprofessional Working Group, tasked by the GMC to review what nutrition education was being provided by medical schools, and create a new nutrition curriculum. Nutritank was asked to be a member of this working group representing the medical student and junior doctor voice. Nutritank has now worked alongside the Working Group members to review nutrition medical education at undergraduate level, following this review Nutritank alongside the Nutrition Implementation Coalition, helped to write, review and disseminate the latest published AfN Undergraduate Curriculum in Nutrition for Medical Doctors. Alongside the Nutrition Implementation Coalition Nutritank looks to further advocate for medical schools to adopt this curriculum in the U.K. Nutritank C.I.C. continues to sit on the active AfN Interprofessional Working Group and the group has made progress with implementing the curriculum in a number of U.K. medical schools and this work is ongoing.

Since inception, Nutritank C.I.C. has actively advocated for healthier and more nutritious food environments within university physical communities and within NHS hospitals. Following the Independent NHS Food Review, one of the recommendations was the formation of an expert panel with relevant sub-groups. Nutritank was asked to join one of these sub-groups; the NHS England Hospital Food Review Clinical Committee, Chaired by Philip Shelley. This subgroup’s aim is to improve 24/7 access to hot nutritious food for staff and visitors within NHS hospitals. With the same vision, but independently to this sub-group, Nutritank is running an Audit on the quality and provision of nutritious food for Junior Doctors within NHS hospitals and whether this may have an independent impact on Junior Doctors’ health. The study is titled – ‘Junior Doctor Food Environment National Quality Improvement Project. ‘ If you are a Junior doctor and would like to take part in the study, please find the link to complete the short survey here.

Weight stigma in healthcare and government policy is a topical and key issue, one that is highly unrepresented in training with many of the healthcare workforce not understanding its true impact upon patients living with obesity and excess weight. The course, currently under development, is co-produced by both Nutritank and Nutrition Rocks, it aims to train healthcare professionals (HCPs) to recognise the many forms of weight stigma and weight bias in healthcare and how to prevent them. It will allow HCPs to appreciate and understand the multifactorial causes of obesity and the complexities of treating the disease. One of the objectives of the course will be that HCPs will develop a greater knowledge of the appropriate resources available for patients living with obesity and how to refer to these resources in a sensitive and non-judgemental way, so that HCPs, first and foremost, do not harm their patients and clients.

The project is taking nutrition education to primary schools, making healthier living fun and accessible. It is covering the basics of healthy eating, as well as dealing with relevant topics such as ultra-processed foods and interpreting labels. The Nutrition 4 Youngsters programme educates and empowers pupils, and their teachers and families, to make better and more nutritious food choices. Nutrition 4 Youngsters is delivered by a dedicated team of medical student volunteers across the UK, who go out into their communities to inspire positive change through dynamic teaching and leading by example.

Nutritank provides placement opportunities for nutrition and dietetic university students. At present, we have partnered with King’s College London, London Metropolitan, Plymouth, Sheffield Hallam, and Chester to provide alternative placement opportunities. The students have the opportunity to work with the social media team generating informative content as well as articles for the Nutritank website. Where possible, opportunities are provided to give support on current projects, for example creating presentation materials for our Nutrition 4 Youngers projects. The placements are remote and run by our Partnership Lead and Lead Dietitian. Here is a quote from a recent Dietetic student ‘I recently did a three-week placement at Nutritank where I was involved with numerous different projects. Examples of these projects included helping to develop partnerships with different brands, writing articles, creating content for the blog and social media, and researching different trending topics in health and nutrition. I loved how easy it was to get involved in projects that interested me, and despite the remote working, I felt fully supported. Food really is medicine and Nutritank’s mission is so important so it was great to help contribute. A particular highlight was being able to attend a networking event with different companies within the food industry!’