Today’s Dietitian
Vol. 27 No. 4 P. 14
Dietitians really want to be involved in advocating for a healthier planet. It’s no secret in the nutrition profession that diets can have huge impacts on the planet in multiple ways. Our food systems have significant effects on the environment through deforestation, pollution, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions. Food production accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions, uses half of the world’s habitable land and 70% of our global freshwater, and is responsible for 78% of eutrophication (pollution of waterways with nutrient runoff).1
In fact, we’re at a tipping point for planetary boundaries, such as climate change. According to the International Panel on Climate Change, we must stay within 1.5° C above preindustrial levels to avoid the disastrous and irreversible impacts of climate change on our planet.2 It’s become clear that what we put on our plates is one of the most significant opportunities we have as individuals over our lifetimes to reduce our environmental impact.3 Yet, sustainable diets are about much more than environmental factors. For diets to be truly sustainable they must honor other important domains, such as nutritional, economic, and social. Diets should promote optimal health, be accessible and affordable for all communities, and honor cultural and traditional diet patterns, to name just a few criteria within the realm of sustainable food systems.
Passion for Sustainability
Enter dietitians, who are among the most trusted voices on diet and have a direct impact on these key domains of sustainable diets. It’s exciting to find that RDs firmly believe they should be involved in the sustainable food movement, as reported in the recently published 2024 Sustainability and Food Insights Survey performed by Food + Planet in collaboration with Today’s Dietitian. The second annual survey, which included 1,106 registered RDs across the United States, found that the overwhelming majority of RDs believe their profession should be actively involved in advocating for sustainable diets, similar to the results found in the 2023 Sustainability and Food Insights Survey.4
Jack Graham, chief operating officer of Today’s Dietitian, has noticed the trend that finds RDs more passionate about sustainability. He reports, “At Today’s Dietitian, we’re keenly in touch with and interested in our professional audience’s feedback, and we have observed increasing interest in topics of sustainability in continuing education activities, articles within the magazine, and sessions at the Today’s Dietitian Symposium. This increased interest aligns with the growing recognition that food choices impact not only individual health but also environmental and societal well-being. Sustainability is becoming a key focus area in nutrition, and dietitians are expressing interest in ways to incorporate sustainability strategies into their practices.”
Heather Davis, MS, RDN, editor of Today’s Dietitian, agrees. “Sustainability as a topic in nutrition is definitely attracting more interest, press, and overall conversation among RDs and lay public alike. Even just 10 years ago, I didn’t see much mainstream conversation around it, but I do now.”
Challenges to a Sustainable Practice
While it’s exciting that RDs embrace the potential for moving the needle on planetary health, it’s important to acknowledge significant challenges for the profession. One of the key areas identified in the survey is lower knowledge and confidence levels in the various domains of sustainable diets due to a lack of education and resources. Why is this a shortfall in the dietetics community? Sherene Chou, MS, RDN, cofounder of Food + Planet, says, “Sustainable food systems education isn’t a key focus area built into our education as dietitians.” Indeed, many dietetics programs lack robust sustainability programs in their curricula, and dietitians need more opportunities for education, as well as resources to use in their practice settings. The bottom line: These limitations may result in lower levels of sustainability knowledge and confidence, as well as lower rates of application of these principles into dietitians’ scope of practice.
Here are a few key findings from the 2024 survey regarding the challenges RDs face:
• Limited Opportunities for Education: Half (50%) of RDs lack formal training in sustainability, and 27% report the highest level of sustainability education they receive is sponsored by industry.
• Disproportionate Knowledge and Confidence: Across the domains of sustainable food systems, RDs report the lowest confidence levels in areas of food equity, production, and sourcing. Almost two-thirds (62%) of RDs are very confident on the topic of food safety, compared with about one-third (31%) who are very confident on local, organic, and seasonal sourcing.
• Call for More Resources: RDs say they need more resources to help expand their knowledge, including curricula, workshops, and training—especially in areas where they lack confidence; 80% report a lack of knowledge in good governance, 66% in climate-smart agriculture, and 56% in biodiversity impacts.
• Multiple Barriers: RDs face significant barriers to promoting sustainable diets, with 63% citing low consumer demand or awareness and 56% listing insufficient tools and resources as top challenges, alongside issues of access, affordability, and knowledge gaps.
• Uneven Practice Application: RDs most commonly advise on more traditional topics of sustainability in their practice: 84% of RDs counsel on food safety and 80% on food security, affordability, and access. Other topics are included less frequently by dietitians; only 14% of RDs advise on good governance and 20% on climate-smart agricultural practices.
Opportunities on the Horizon
There’s good news, though, as many promising opportunities to help move communities to a brighter food future are highlighted in the survey. The sheer number of dietitians who believe they should be part of the sustainability movement is encouraging, as well as RDs’ position of influence and conviction that sustainability needs to be part of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs).
Here are some of the key findings demonstrating the potential of dietitians:
• Enthusiasm for Sustainability: Most (96%) of RDs believe the dietetics profession should be actively involved in promoting sustainable diets.
• Position of Impact: Almost seven out of 10 (69%) RDs offer dietary guidance to more than 50 people each month, and 8% reach 5,000 or more people monthly.
• Support for DGAs: Seven in 10 (70%) RDs believe sustainability should be formally integrated into the DGAs, a 13% increase over the results in the 2023 survey.
To read the full survey results, visit foodandplanet.org.
A Brighter Future
How can you maximize your practice to be a bigger part of the momentum? Encouraging more plant-forward eating patterns, prioritizing healthful caloric intake, and reducing food waste are three of the most significant methods of addressing our food systems’ impact on the planet, according to recent research.3 These are all issues RDs can raise in many practice settings, from clinical nutrition to workplace wellness to food service settings. There are numerous ways to offer guidance on these main strategies that can be folded into your everyday interactions with clients and communities, including recipes, private consultations, workshops, cooking classes, media messages, menu planning, and food service operations.
However, the survey points out that dietitians, and ultimately the planet, can benefit from diving even deeper into sustainability education beyond the basics to include issues like food equity, agricultural methods, production chains, and food industry governance. Davis suggests that as dietitians strive to gain a better understanding of the complexities of sustainable diets, it’s important to be vigilant for greenwashing claims and to lean into the nuances of sustainability. For example, plant-based eating patterns may be linked with relatively lower carbon and water footprints, but many larger-scale plant-based agricultural practices may support monocultures and reduce biodiversity. Dietitians have multiple opportunities to be sustainability leaders in our communities. After all, which profession is better equipped to offer evidence-based, practical approaches that meet people where they’re at? That’s where dietitians can shine for people and the planet.
— Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN, is The Plant-Powered Dietitian, author of the book The Plant-Powered Plan to Beat Diabetes, and cofounder of the nonprofit organization Food + Planet.
References
1. Ritchie H, Rosado P, Roser M. Environmental impacts of food production. Our World in Data website. https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food. Published 2022.
2. Global warming of 1.5 C. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change website. https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15
3. Ritchie H. Emissions from food alone could use up all of our budget for 1.5°C or 2°C – but we have a range of opportunities to avoid this. Our World in Data website. https://ourworldindata.org/food-emissions-carbon-budget. Published June 10, 2021
4. 2024 sustainability and food insights dietitian survey. Food + Planet website. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CI52BwytgGxerc0ubSjqyqkN91IgjyfB/view. Published November 7, 2024.
