Hawaii Bill: HB 1748

Bill Summary

HB 1748 requires the University of Hawaii Board of Regents to create an evidence‑based nutrition and metabolic health curriculum for medical students at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), and to make completion of this curriculum a requirement for the MD degree. The curriculum must include at least 25 contact hours of nutrition education focused on counseling skills and the role of diet in preventing and managing chronic disease, with defined learning outcomes and standards, and UH must submit a detailed implementation and evaluation report to the Legislature by early 2028.

Why It Matters to the Make America Healthy Again Movement

The MAHA Movement strongly supports this bill because it directly addresses one of MAHA’s core critiques: that physicians receive minimal training in nutrition and metabolic health despite diet‑related diseases driving much of the chronic disease burden in Hawaii and across the U.S. By hard‑wiring substantial, evidence‑based nutrition and metabolic education—and practical counseling training—into Hawaii’s main medical school curriculum, HB 1748 helps shift the state’s future clinical practice toward MAHA’s vision of food‑first, lifestyle‑centered medicine instead of drug‑only sick‑care.