Abstract
After a historic decision to affiliate leading nutrition organizations, the American Nutrition Association (ANA) was established to champion the science and practice of personalized nutrition. Today, the ANA is diligently working to advance their vision of a society of healthy people powered by nutrition. Drawing on decades of collective knowledge about the essential role of nutrition in addressing the chronic disease and obesity crisis in the United States, the ANA gathered a group of experts and published a perspective article outlining the significant role of personalized approaches to nutrition in health and health care. The definition states: “Personalized nutrition is a field that leverages human individuality to drive nutrition strategies that prevent, manage, and treat disease and optimize health.” 1
Michael Stroka, JD, MBA, MS, CNS, LDN, and CEO of the ANA commented: “Today, in 2020, the vision of the American Nutrition Association—Healthy People, Powered by Nutrition—is critical to the future of society's health. Making this a reality is our current role. We champion the science and practice of personalized nutrition by providing trusted, science-based nutrition education, certification, and advocacy for healthcare professionals and for the public.” Stroka added: “Personalized nutrition professionals are on the front lines, helping keep people healthy. It is crucial that every person optimize their health to live up to their potential. The ANA community is committed to this vital work.”
Part of the role of the ANA is to develop programming and form partnerships with leading organizations in health care to train health care professional teams in the effective application of personalized nutrition in many settings, including in underserved communities. Stroka stated, “We continue to advocate for increased access to personalized nutrition services so that all people, including those most vulnerable, can benefit from the powerful impact of personalized nutrition.”
Changing the Trajectory of Poor Health
So how will we change the trajectory of the epidemic of chronic disease and obesity in this country? Corinne Bush, MS, CNS, and Director of Nutrition Science and Education at the ANA commented: “Poor nutrition is the leading cause of chronic disease and obesity: it is responsible for more deaths in the United States than tobacco, inactivity, or any other risk factor. But just as poor nutrition is the primary cause, personalized nutrition is the most powerful antidote to chronic disease and obesity. Personalized nutrition has the power to prevent and reverse obesity and chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes by addressing their root causes.”
The ANA website commented that personalized nutrition is based on a person's unique biology rather than health fads and is essential for preventing common chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes. The website stated: “There is now a vast body of science underscoring the impact of nutrition and its role as one of the most powerful determinants of our health” and “The ANA believes that personalized nutrition is best tailored for the individual based on a person's history, health goals, lab tests, and genetic testing.” 2
Bush pointed out, however, that “Although there is a vast body of science underscoring the impact of nutrition, a profound gap remains between nutrition's potential and its actual use.” She reported that last year, the ANA affiliated five leading nutrition organizations under the banner of the ANA, including the American College of Nutrition (ACN), the Nutrition for Optimal Health Association (NOHA), the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists (BCNS), the Center for Nutrition Advocacy (CNA), and the Accreditation Council for Nutrition Professional Education (ACNPE), stating that each have rich histories to fill this gap with a comprehensive solution to educate, certify, advocate, and connect players in the nutrition ecosystem to address the problem of poor nutrition and chronic lifestyle diseases.
This comprehensive solution addresses the problems of chronic diseases and obesity, Bush said, by educating and certifying health professionals in nutrition science and practice and by educating the public in science-based unbiased nutrition, both directly and through the professionals trained by the ANA. In addition, the ANA advocates at the state and federal policy levels to expand public access to nutrition practitioners and insurance reimbursement. The ANA website stated, “Nutrition should be a core element of our healthcare culture and system, and all health professionals should be equipped and empowered to integrate nutrition into their work.” 3
The ANA is also committed to making sure that all people benefit from healthy nutrition, which includes addressing racial inequalities in health care and nutrition. Bush stated, “The issue of racial inequity in healthcare and nutrition is an urgent problem that we are exploring more deeply and taking action on. Racism is a public health issue that needs to be addressed throughout the healthcare system, including policies that further disenfranchise marginalized people who become even more vulnerable in emergencies like the global pandemic. At the ANA, ‘Nutrition is for Everyone’ is a core value.”
To make this manifest, the ANA has disseminated nutrition science research and conducted public policy advocacy to make nutrition more accessible to all Americans, especially communities of color, according to Bush. She commented: “Nutrition is the single biggest determinant of health, and healthy foods and nutrition counseling continues to be inaccessible for too many. We will continue to support legislation that recognizes the role of nutrition as a social determinant of health, such as current federal legislation, which would increase access to nutrition services in an effort to reduce disproportionately high black maternal mortality rates. Throughout our history, we have educated professionals regarding nutrient deficiencies, such as vitamin D, that disproportionately impact the overall health of communities of color. We also continue to advocate for greater access for underserved communities to nutrition practitioners, including through public programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and WIC.”
Immune Resilience
The ANA website recently launched a Personalized Nutrition & Immune Resilience Resource Hub, which is a center for both practitioners and the public to access curated and trustworthy information about nutrition and its critical role in immune function. Bush stated: “The single most important message is that personalized nutrition matters more than ever right now—it has the power to quickly shift people's immune function towards balance, potentially mitigating severe outcomes from infection. Our Immune Resilience Resource Hub provides important information and strategies from our public resource ‘10 Positive Steps to Immune Resilience’ to our Practitioner Finder tool for individuals to get personalized nutrition counseling. Additionally, we support practitioners with practice management tools and educational content related to nutrition for immune resilience.”
Getting Involved
Clinicians can engage with the ANA's resources in many ways such as signing up for professional membership to support the ANA's nonprofit education, certification, and advocacy work, and to gain specific benefits related to the science and practice of personalized nutrition. Professional members can also register to be listed in the public Practitioner Finder search tool and have access to the organization's journal—Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Bush said, “We also encourage professionals to join our mentorship program and contribute to the education and training of the next generation of nutrition practitioners.”
The ANA provides a variety of educational offerings, including webinars, trainings, and certifications such as a Certified Nutrition Specialist® credential, the Certified Ketogenic Nutrition Specialist™ certification, and many continuing education offerings. The ANA will also soon launch a Nutritional Genomics Specialist Training & Certification Program. In addition, the advocacy section on the ANA website helps practitioners navigate the nuances of nutrition practice in their states. The ANA website offers webinars on current topics, including presentations on COVID-19, the Gut-Skin Axis, the Genomics of Obesity, Functional Immunology, and more.
The ANA's annual summit will be held virtually this year. Personalized Nutrition 2020 is the 61st annual meeting. The virtual summit will be held on November 12–13, 2020, and will focus on the significance of personalized nutrition in immune resilience. The first day of the summit engages business and stakeholders “to catalyze the personalized nutrition marketplace for cutting-edge conversations on personalized nutrition.”
4
The summit is open to everyone, and clinicians can log on to the ANA website (
The Future
Clearly, both experts and research are increasingly expounding on the critical frontline role of healthy nutrition in improving the health of our society. Stroka commented: “By catalyzing the influence and scope of the personalized nutrition profession, our goals at the ANA are to elevate and translate personalized nutrition science, create and equip a healthcare workforce to deliver personalized nutrition, and move personalized nutrition into the core of our healthcare culture and system by changing the public policy landscape.” Bush concluded: “All of the efforts at the ANA ladder up to our vision of a society of healthy people, powered by nutrition. We ultimately hope that the ANA will continue to play a key role in transforming people's health and the healthcare system through nutrition and ushering in the societal shifts that will lead to the fulfillment of our vision of a society of healthy people powered by nutrition.”▪