Dietitians’ Roles in Food System Transformation

Conventional food systems lead to environmental degradation and nutrient deficiencies, contributing to poor health. Conceptualizing dietetic practice by practice areas limits how dietitians (RDs) see the relevance of food systems to practice and potential actions to contribute to more healthy, sustainable food systems. RDs are well-positioned to promote sustainable food systems (SFS) because they work across the food system landscape: Food Production, Economic, Political, Consumer Demand, and Health Systems. In this article, we invite RDs to view SFS activities through a systems lens, bringing more awareness to their impact. This includes identifying leverage points - actions that have a larger impact than their immediate outcome - and unintended negative consequences of recommendations. We discuss findings from a scoping review that included 11 peer-reviewed and 16 grey literature articles and chart practice activities, tools and recommendations according to practice area and the food system landscape. Findings demonstrate there are several existing activities and areas for further growth. Framing practice activities across the food system landscape, facilitates understanding of the interconnected nature of the food system to get to the root cause of problems. As a self-determining profession, dietitians determine the degree of influence they have in supporting the transition to sustainable dietary patterns.