Fragmented foundations: a comparative review of nutrition education in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and physiotherapy programmes across five European countries

This study aimed to examine the extent and nature of nutrition education currently implemented within medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and physiotherapy training programmes, and identify key gaps and inconsistencies. A structured curriculum review was undertaken using a multi‑step approach: (1) Identify and examine publicly available educational materials, specifically formal curricula and programme modules or equivalent documents, for undergraduate programmes in the target disciplines; (2) mapping nutrition-related module learning outcomes and assessments; (3) analysing content coverage of key thematic areas (e.g., patient‑centred care, digital health, behaviour change, public health). Data were synthesised using descriptive analysis to identify recurrent patterns and gaps. A total of 160 undergraduate healthcare programmes across five European countries (medicine n = 41; nursing n = 44; pharmacy n = 37; physiotherapy n = 38) were reviewed. Across 4,964 modules analysed, nutrition was most commonly embedded implicitly within biomedical or clinical subjects rather than delivered as standalone content. Romania demonstrated the highest proportion of explicit nutrition modules (14%), followed by Sweden (7%), Ireland (4%), Ukraine (3%), and France (2%). Medicine and pharmacy focused primarily on biomedical and disease-related nutrition, nursing more frequently incorporated applied patient-centred content, and physiotherapy addressed nutrition mainly in rehabilitation and chronic disease contexts. The review of curricula and modules highlight the need for more visible consistent integration of contemporary, practice‑oriented nutrition competencies across healthcare curricula. These findings provide a framework for targeted curriculum enhancement and future collaborative curriculum development across institutions.