Angie Tagtow

Aligning Food Systems Policies to Advance Public Health

The involvement of public health professionals in food and agricultural policy provides tremendous opportunities for advancing the publics health. It is particularly challenging, however, for professionals to understand and consider the numerous policy drivers that impact the food system, which range from agricultural commodity policies to local food safety ordinances. Confronted with this complexity in the food system, policy advocates often focus on narrow objectives with disregard for the larger system. This commentary contends that, in order to be most effective, public health professionals need to consider the full range of interdependent policies that affect the system. Food policy councils have proven to be an effective tool, particularly at the local and state level, for developing comprehensive food systems policies that can improve public health.

Beyond Eating Right: The Emergence of Civic Dietetics to Foster Health and Sustainability Through Food System Change

Evidence about the relationship between diet and health is central to professional nutrition practice. A growing number of food and nutrition professionals recognize critical relationships among public health, environmental quality, agricultural practices, community well-being, food security, and policy. Integrating food system issues into professional practice represents a fundamental transition and calls for a new framework. Drawing from Thomas Lysons work on civic agriculture, we propose civic dietetics to describe the integration of food system awareness into professional practice. We provide evidence of the emergence of civic dietetics and describe challenges to and strategies for its development and integration into practice.

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Standards of Professional Performance for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (Competent, Proficient, and Expert) in Sustainable, Resilient, and Healthy Food and Water Systems

Sustainability is the ability of a system to be maintained over the long term. Resilience is the ability of a system to withstand disturbances and continue to function in a sustainable manner. Issues of sustainability and resilience apply to all aspects of nutrition and dietetics practice, can be practiced at both the program and systems level, and are broader than any one specific practice setting or individual intervention. Given an increasing need to apply principles of sustainability and resilience to nutrition and dietetics practice, as well as growing interest among the public and by Registered Dietitian Nutritionists of health issues related to food and water systems, the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group, with guidance from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Quality Management Committee, has developed the Standards of Professional Performance as a tool for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists working in sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems to assess their current skill levels and to identify areas for further professional development in this emerging practice area. This Standards of Professional Performance document covers six standards of professional performance: quality in practice, competence and accountability, provision of services, application of research, communication and application of knowledge, and utilization and management of resources. Within each standard, specific indicators provide measurable action statements that illustrate how sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems principles can be applied to practice. The indicators describe three skill levels (competent, proficient, and expert) for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists working in sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems.

Food Security and Urban Agriculture

“Fulfilling one’s need for food in the biological sense is different from fulfilling one’s human right to food….Human rights are mainly about upholding human dignity, not about meeting physiological needs. Dignity does not come from being fed. It comes from providing for oneself. In a well-constructed society, the objective is to move toward conditions under which all people can provide for themselves.”

Behind the Scenes at the US Department of Agriculture

T HE DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR Americans and MyPlate, two efforts supported by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP), are well known among registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) and health professionals. Yet, these two central products just scratch the surface of many useful tools, resources, and reports produced by CNPP. With this column, we invite you to take a deeper look inside CNPP by highlighting some fun and interesting facts about the fulfilling work that we do on a day-to-day basis to inform policymakers, researchers, and health professionals, and to help improve the diets and health of Americans. Read below to learn more about the various ways CNPP projects are influencing the nation’s food and nutrition policies and programs.

Science-The Cornerstone of Nutrition Policy, Promotion, and Practice.

H UMAN NUTRITION HAS BEEN a core focus for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) since its inception in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln. Today, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the 15 food and nutrition assistance programs are cornerstones of USDA. Since 1980, USDA has partnered with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to revise the Dietary Guidelines for Americans every 5 years. Now in its eighth edition, the Dietary Guidelines provides recommendations based on scientific evidence about the components of a healthy and nutritionally adequate diet to help promote health and prevent chronic disease for current and future generations. The focus of the Dietary Guidelines is on the prevention of disease and not the treatment of disease.

Registered Dietitian Takes the Wheel at Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion

CNPP.usda.gov ChooseMyPlate.gov SuperTracker.usda.gov Facebook.com/MyPlate Twitter.com/MyPlate T HIS MONTH MARKS THE 20TH anniversary of the establishment of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP). As a multidisciplinary organization, staff is comprised of economists, food scientists, nutrition educators, policy specialists, and, of course, registered dietitians (RDs). While RDs have always been an integral part of CNPP, one has not filled the top leadership position since CNPP’s first executive director, Eileen Kennedy, DSc, RD—until now. As we celebrate this significant milestone, we are proud to welcome and introduce to you our new executive director, Angie Tagtow, MS, RD, LD. To have an RD at the top of our leadership once again is a testament to the strength of the profession, and for this special edition of the MyPlate Message Chronicles, our newest executive director will share with you her vision for 2015 and beyond.