Improving awareness and accessibility of healthy diets are key challenges for health professionals and policymakers alike. While the US government has been assessing and encouraging nutritious diets via the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) since 1980, the long-term sustainability, and thus availability, of those diets has received less attention. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) examined the evidence on sustainable diets for the first time, but this topic was not included within the scope of work for the 2020 DGAC. The objective of this study was to systematically review the evidence on US dietary patterns and sustainability outcomes published from 2015 to 2019 replicating the 2015 DGAC methodology. The 22 studies meeting inclusion criteria reveal a rapid expansion of research on US dietary patterns and sustainability, including 8 studies comparing the sustainability of DGA-compliant dietary patterns with current US diets. Our results challenge prior findings that diets adhering to national dietary guidelines are more sustainable than current average diets and indicate that the Healthy US-style dietary pattern recommended by the DGA may lead to similar or increased greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, and water use compared with the current US diet. However, consistent with previous research, studies meeting inclusion criteria generally support the conclusion that, among healthy dietary patterns, those higher in plant-based foods and lower in animal-based foods would be beneficial for environmental sustainability. Additional research is needed to further evaluate ways to improve food system sustainability through both dietary shifts and agricultural practices in the United States.

Current systems of food production and consumption are challenged by factors such as natural resource constraints, relative unaffordability of nutrient-dense foods, persistent social inequities, and high rates of diet-related disease. Registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) play a critical role in protecting the health of current and future populations by advancing sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems. By definition, such systems can meet current dietary needs without jeopardizing the ability to meet the needs of future generations; can withstand or adapt to disturbances over time; and can equitably facilitate disease prevention and well-being for all individuals. This area of practice within nutrition and dietetics requires recognition of the complex interrelationships among indiviudal health and economic, environmental, and social domains of food and nutrition, and allows RDNs to bring unique expertise to diverse interprofessional teams. The Revised 2020 Standards of Professional Performance for RDNs (Competent, Proficient, and Expert) in Sustainable, Resilient, and Healthy Food and Water Systems update the 2014 standards and cover the following 6 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 the RDN can apply the principles of sustainable food systems to a variety of practice settings. The indicators describe 3 skill levels (ie, competent, proficient, and expert) for RDNs in this focus area.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between diet quality and cost for foods purchased for consumption at home and away from home. Design: Cross-sectional analysis. Multivariable linear regression models evaluated the association between diet quality and cost for all food, food at home, and food away from home. Setting: Daily food intake data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005-2016). Food prices were derived using data from multiple, publicly available databases. Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2015 and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010. Participants: 30,564 individuals ≥20 y with complete and reliable dietary data. Results: Mean per capita daily diet cost was $14.19 (95% CI: $13.91-14.48), including $6.92 ($6.73-7.10) for food consumed at home and $7.28 ($7.05-7.50) for food consumed away from home. Diet quality was higher for food at home compared to food away from home (P<0.001). Higher diet quality was associated with higher food costs overall, at home, and away from home (P<0.001 for all comparisons). Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that higher diet quality is associated with higher costs for all food, food consumed at home, and food consumed away from home. This research provides policymakers, public health professionals, and clinicians with information needed to support healthy eating habits. These findings are particularly relevant to contemporary health and economic concerns that have worsened because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A rapid and sensitive method was developed and validated using a liquid chromatographic method with tandem mass spectrometry detection (LC/MS/MS) for determination of veliparib (ABT-888) in plasma, bone marrow supernatant, and bone marrow cells. Sample preparation involved a single protein precipitation step by the addition of the sample with acetonitrile. Separation of veliparib and the internal standard, A620223.69, was achieved on a Atlantis™ dC18 column (100 × 2.1 mm, 3 μm) column using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile-ammonium acetate (2 mM) containing formic acid (0.1 %, v/v) using isocratic flow at 0.2 mL/min for 3 minutes. The analyte and internal standard were monitored by tandem-mass spectrometry with electrospray positive ionization. Linear calibration curves were generated over the range of 5 to 1000 nM. The values for both within day and between day precision and accuracy were well within the generally accepted criteria for analytical methods. This method was subsequently used to measure concentrations of veliparib in cancer patients receiving an oral daily dose of 10 mg with demonstration of drug accumulation in the marrow compartment and in the target leukemia bone marrow cells.

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the importance of affordable nutrition. Fruits and vegetables are among the most commonly wasted food items, representing waste of key nutrients that are needed to maintain health and support the immune system. Food waste also represents substantial environmental burden and more than one-quarter of consumer food spending. Practical strategies are urgently needed to help nutritionists support their clients in reducing food waste, which can help improve diet quality, reduce environmental impacts, and increase financial flexibility during this critical time. Fortunately, recent research has demonstrated that efforts to reduce waste of fruits and vegetables at home, as well as meat and seafood away from home, will be particularly impactful. A number of strategies exist to help consumers reduce their food waste while making affordable food choices, and nutritionists are well poised to communicate these strategies to their clients and communities of practice.