*Naïma Moustaïd-Moussa, Ph.D., DFASN, FTOS, FAHA, FNAI
President, American Society for Nutrition
Animal models for human diseases are critical for advancing disease prevention, treatment, and overall health. They help scientists understand how diseases develop and test possible treatments in ways that are not possible in people. At the same time, there is growing concern across the research community that these studies do not always produce consistent or reproducible results, even when they focus on the same disease.
A major contributor to these concerns includes the lack of standardization in animal diets and environments, which leads to a lack of reproducibility. When diets and environments are not standardized, it becomes difficult to compare findings across studies or repeat results. This lack of consistency slows scientific progress, increases costs, and delays the impact and translation of animal research into real-world health benefits.
The role of diet in research quality
To increase rigor and replicability of animal research, it is necessary to know precise diet composition, apply rigorous study design, and use relevant animal models. For diet composition, it is especially imperative to control dietary variables.
Given these serious issues, the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) supports the development and use of next-generation standardized research diets. These are designed to serve as rigorous reference diets in animal feeding studies.
ASN supports advancing the quality and integrity of nutrition research using animal models, supporting basic scientists, and strengthening the translational value of preclinical research. A timely white paper authored by the Laboratory Animal Nutrition Taskforce for an Education and Research Network (LANTERN) highlights persistent concerns related to the lack of standardization in diets used in animal research. The LANTERN team proposes the establishment of a resource center or consortium to provide guidance, recognition, and development of open, standardized reference diets for widely used animal models.
ASN’s leadership and next steps
ASN is poised to move this initiative forward and build on the LANTERN paper’s recommendations, while also taking into account two related editorials published in The Journal of Nutrition, From Chow to Conclusions: Why standardising laboratory animal diets is essential for rigor, reproducibility, and translational relevance in nutrition research and Standardising rodent and other animal diets: a call for action, both of which reinforce the urgency of improving rigor and reproducibility in this area. This is a high priority initiative to advance rigor, reproducibility, and replicability in animal research across diseases.
Consistent with ASN research priorities and my presidential aim to advance and support rigorous basic research, ASN recommends establishing a task force that brings together key experimental animal scientists, diet manufacturers, federal partners, and other stakeholders to provide clear guidance on standardized diets. This effort will also engage the international research community to support alignment and the broader adoption of globally relevant standards.
Join the Conversation at NUTRITION 2026
As a first step towards establishing such a task force, ASN will convene the LANTERN authors, diet manufacturers and other interested investigators at NUTRITION 2026 to discuss next steps, including membership and goals. This effort is intended to support the task force in developing rigorous guidelines for experimental animal research that will ultimately lead to establishing a national program focused on improving research rigor, as proposed by the LANTERN group, while also positioning these efforts to inform and support broader international efforts.
Importantly, it is critical that early career investigators and students are part of this conversation.
Only at NUTRITION 2026
Next-Generation Standard Reference Diets: Building Nutritional Rigor and Relevance using Replicable Diet Formulations in Animal Models of Human Disease
Monday, July 27, 2026 | 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM ET
Why this matters for science and health
Improving diet standardization in animal studies has real implications for how quickly and effectively research can improve human health. A coordinated effort in this area can lead to more effective and humane research practices, enhanced rigor and reproducibility, and stronger translation of findings to humans. It can also reduce cost and time associated with both conducting animal research and applying those findings in clinical settings, ultimately promoting health and reducing the burden of disease.
I hope to see you at NUTRITION 2026 to help us define what comes next.
About the author:
In addition to serving as President of the American Society for Nutrition, Dr. Moustaïd-Moussa is Executive Director of the Institute for One Health Innovation and Paul W. Horn Distinguished Professor at the Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine. She is also Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Founding Director of the Obesity Research Institute, and a member of the National Academies’ Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources (BANR).