Outputs
Position Papers, published open access in peer reviewed journals, are the main outputs from the Academy to date. These are aligned with our strategic priorities and present the Academy’s formal position on a major topic, identifying challenges and opportunities, and making recommendations.
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The Academy’s first Position Paper, published in December 2020 in the British Journal of Nutrition focused on the nature of the evidence base underpinning dietary recommendations and the systematic processes used by expert panels to ensure that rigour, relevance and consistency are brought to their conclusions.
There were accompanying editorials in Nutrition Bulletin and the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, which highlight the Academy’s recommendations. The Position Paper also addresses some of the challenges inherent in studying diet-disease relationships and lessons learned over the past 45 years of evidence-based policy making in dietary prevention of non-communicable diseases such as cancers and cardiovascular diseases. One such challenge concerns the investigation of the biological mechanisms underlying diet-disease relationships through experimental studies, which in the Academy’s view has not been sufficiently exploited. A recent publication by one of the Position Paper’s authors, discusses this in more detail and the topic is explored in a blog published by the Academy in November 2022.
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The second Position Paperon the use of nutrition evidence, published in November 2022 in the British Journal of Nutrition, focuses on the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation.
A blog discussing why health professionals need to know about the processes in place to regulate the use of such claims has been published on the Academy’s website and accompanying editorials appeared in Nutrition Bulletin and the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.
These editorials summarise the recommendations and highlight the implications of the Regulation for nutrition and dietetic professionals.
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A third ANS Position Paper, led by Prof Mary Hickson, was published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2024, examining how evidence is used to guide individualized nutrition interventions. This is primarily achieved through the development of clinical practice guidelines, which are systematically developed statements that attempt to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice, guiding the practitioner and individual to implement treatments for specific clinical circumstances based upon the best available evidence. The Position Paper's recommendations are highlighted in an editorial published in Nutrition Bulletin, and Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics and Nutrition and Dietetics A short website article about the Position Paper can be found here.