At a Crossroads: Ada and Public Policy

Extending the Value of Membership: ADA Foundation and Political Action Committee

Let’s all advocate for the dietetics profession

2011 ADA Member Benefits Update

2010 ADA Member Benefits Update

Advocacy: Our Professional Responsibility

Advocacy for Policies That Achieve Our Vision

National Nutrition Summit: Collaboration, Consensus, Action

Lack of sufficient analytical capacity in most of the developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa has been frequently suggested as a major factor in determining the appropriateness of food and nutri...

The last quarter of the 20th century was characterized by an increase in the consumer's interest in the nutritional aspects of health. As a result, governments began to develop dietary guidelines in addition to the traditional recommended dietary allowances, which have been superseded now by dietary reference intakes. In addition to governments, various scientific societies and nongovernmental organizations have issued their dietary advice to combat chronic diseases and obesity. Human beings evolved on a diet that was balanced in n-6 and n-3 essential fatty acid intake, whereas Western diets have a ratio of n-6/n-3 of 16.74. The scientific evidence is strong for decreasing the n-6 and increasing the n-3 intake to improve health throughout the life cycle. This paper discusses the reasons for this change and recommends the establishment of a Nutrition and Food Policy, instead of a Food and Nutrition Policy, because the latter subordinates the nutritional aspects to the food policy aspects. Nutrition and food planning comprise a tool of nutrition and food policy, whose objectives are the achievement of the adequate nutrition of the population as defined by nutritional science. The scientific basis for the development of a public policy to develop dietary recommendations for essential fatty acids, including a balanced n-6/n-3 ratio is robust. What is needed is a scientific consensus, education of professionals and the public, the establishment of an agency on nutrition and food policy at the national level, and willingness of governments to institute changes. Education of the public is essential to demand changes in the food supply.

Window of opportunity – positioning food and nutrition policy within a sustainability agenda

Chile has implemented numerous successful food and nutrition initiatives since the early 20th century, aiming to address malnutrition in all its forms. To summarize the major nutrition and food-related policies, strategies, and programs implemented in Chile, using the NOURI-SHING Framework. The NOURISHING framework proposes a methodology for reporting, monitoring, and categorizing actions to promote healthier eating in three main domains: food environment, food system and behavior change communication. The data collection was carried out reviewing the databases of the Chilean Ministries of Health, Education and Social Development, and the Parliament. Information about nutrition related public health policies, strategies or programs was obtained from peer reviewed articles, official reports, official State websites, as well as interviews with former and current stakeholders. Chile has mandatory nutritional labeling that was updated to front-of-package warning labels about critical nutrients. In addition, the advertising of unhealthy foods and breast milk substitutes is restricted, among other food and nutrition policies. Nevertheless, strategies related to mass and social media communication campaigns, or periodic education and information interventions still need to be implemented. Using the NOURISHING framework, a comprehensive summary and description of nutrition and food public health policies implemented in Chile is described. An overview of the policy changes required according to the nutritional needs of the population and the nutritional transition in Chile is provided.

Ringing in the Changes of the New Year

Next-Generation Solutions to Address Adaptive Challenges in Dietetics Practice: The I+PSE Conceptual Framework for Action.

Advocacy Is a Natural Part of Our Life and Work

What is food policy? Miller and Deutsch (2009) discuss what constitutes food studies; they say that food studies are not really the study of food itself but the study of the relationship between food, the human experience, and food (Brillat-Savarin 1976; also see▶Brillat-Savarin and Food). Miller and Deutsch (2009) outline areas of study such as food science, agricultural science, culinary arts, public health nutrition, and agro-economics, to name but a few areas which they see as incorporating food studies. Food policy incorporates all of the areas but is more than even the study of the relationship between food and the human experience. Food policy is more than health and more than just agricultural policies or even nutrition policy as individual strands; it is the interconnectedness and sometimes even the disconnect between these various areas (see also “▶Agricultural and Food Research Policy”; “▶Agricultural Policy and Governance: Overview”; “▶ Food Trade and World Trade Organization: Agriculture Agreement”). Food policy, as an academic subject, is the study of the relationship between all these areas of study and how policies are formed or not developed despite the weight of the evidence (Lang et al. 2009). For a long time, transport polices were not considered as having much to do with food policy; however, now they are seen as integral in terms of how food is transported from where it is grown to where it is consumed. Food policy can also be defined by the absence of a written policy or even benign neglect of an area. The failure to relate food production to oil and oil prices was for a long time amajor commission in food policy; the food system relies on oil, oil to produce fertilizers for food, oil to power the machines to harvest it, oil to process it, and oil to distribute it. There is an argument that food policy should not become a distinct area of endeavor seeking instead to become part of and embedded in other policies. Like the concept of health in all policies, food should be in all policies. This in reality is difficult to achieve, and the fallback position is to develop a separate food policy. This usually takes the form of a nutrition-based policy (Milo andHesling 1998; Caraher andCoveney 2004). It becomes clear that healthy food-related policies can have an impact on other issues such as environment, considering the example of campaigns to increase fruit consumption in the global north. Fruit consumption has increased significantly since the mid-1970s; this has been largely accounted for by the very sharp rise in purchases of fruit juice which does not provide equivalent nutrition to its fresh counterpart. This fruit juice consumption, however, is often of juices from longdistant fruit, notably oranges from Brazil. A study by the Wuppertal Institute in Germany calculated that 80 % of Brazilian orange production is consumed in Europe. Annual German consumption occupied 370,000 acres of Brazilian productive land, three times the land devoted to fruit production