Culinary Medicine in Puerto Rico: Bridging Nutrition, Behavior, and Practice
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background: Diet-related chronic diseases represent a major global public health challenge, particularly within Caribbean populations. Puerto Rico experiences high prevalence rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. Traditional nutrition education strategies often fail to produce sustained behavior change due to limited integration of behavioral science and practical skill development.
Objective: To propose a culturally relevant, transdisciplinary framework for culinary medicine in Puerto Rico integrating culinary arts, nutrition, psychology, and medical science to improve dietary behaviors and health outcomes.
Methods: A conceptual framework was developed through integrative synthesis of literature on culinary medicine, behavioral science, lifestyle medicine, and public health. The framework was contextualized to Puerto Rico’s sociocultural and epidemiological landscape.
Results: The Puerto Rico Culinary Medicine Framework positions culinary arts as the operational bridge between nutritional science and behavior change. The model integrates three levels: (1) scientific foundations, (2) behavioral mechanisms, and (3) implementation systems across academic, healthcare, and community settings.
Conclusion: This study presents one of the first conceptual culinary medicine frameworks tailored to the Caribbean context. Culinary medicine offers a culturally relevant, experiential strategy to improve dietary behaviors, enhance food literacy, and address chronic disease burden in Puerto Rico.
Article Details
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