FNCE 2024 Opening Session 2024

More Equity and Less Diet Talk at FNCE This Year

Change is in the air at this year’s FNCE – the annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This is the world’s largest meeting of food and nutrition experts, registered dietitians, and nutritionists. But this year, we are seeing a subtle shift in the agenda at FNCE: less diet talk and more focus on nutrition as a critical dimension for health equity. Pointless controversies about “diet culture” and the relative merits of different diets have faded.

This shift was plain to see in the keynote at the opening session in Minneapolis yesterday. Rishi Manchanda is a physician devoting his career to promoting health equity. He told more than a thousand  dietitians assembled for the meeting:

“Health inequity is really just an injustice that causes harm. The question for me is what is driving that harm.

“If we want to talk about equity, then we must make the connections between health, food, justice, and money. We have to work for improving the social and structural drivers of nutrition security and equity.”

He said that dietitians and nutrition professionals have a critical role to play in changing the social and structural drivers of nutrition security and equity. Dietitians can lead in coalitions that advocate for nutrition security, for social and economic policies, for clinical and community partnerships.

Looking to the Future

The goal, according to Academy President Livleen Gill, is to position dietitians for leadership in health policy. In her opening remarks she explained:

“All this work supports our goal – a future where dietitians are seen and sought as the food and nutrition leaders. And our success will help realize our vision – a world where all people thrive through the transformative power of food and nutrition.”

The narrow historical view of dietitians was all about giving people a diet to follow, somewhat disconnected from fundamental issues of nutrition equity and security. This year at FNCE, we are seeing more nutrition equity and less diet talk. The shift, we believe, points to a strong future for the profession.

For a deeper perspective on nutrition security and health equity, click here and here.

FNCE 2024 Opening Session, photograph by Nina Crowley, PhD RDN

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October 6, 2024