American Society for Nutrition’s Board of Directors welcomes you to Baltimore, Maryland for our annual scientific sessions and annual meeting, Nutrition 2019!

A Letter from ASN President

This is the second year for the ultimate nutrition conference from ASN, and I’m thrilled that so many of you are return attendees. For first-time attendees, get ready to hear from great minds, be updated on timely topics, and be immersed in excellent science! Over the next few days, you will experience the best and latest original science, scientific symposia and educational sessions, special lectures, networking and collaboration, career development opportunities, and more.There is so much to do and see! Here are a few suggestions: Hear experts weigh in on hot areas such as nutritional microbiology, big data analytics, nutrition-related health effects of cannabis, animal protein sources, meal timing and circadian rhythms, omics in nutrition, delivery of micronutrients to populations and much more in our featured symposia. Explore our pre-conferences and sponsored satellite programs spanning content from complementary feeding to policy innovations. Drop in the From Research to Practice clinical programming to hear the latest on practice-changing science. Network with leaders from federal agencies in the Connect with the Fed activities. Brush up on skills in a professional development workshop. Be sure to visit The Hub, where you’ll find exhibits, posters, the poster theater, science stage for exhibitor presentations, ASN Live!, and great casual meeting places where you can catch up with old friends and get to know new friends. Lunch will be provided Sunday and Monday in the Hub, and I encourage you to join us for the Opening Reception in the Hub on Saturday.

To get the most out of Nutrition 2019, you’ll want to refer to the Schedule at a Glance often, and make sure you’ve downloaded the event app onto your mobile device. ASN staff are also available to answer any questions. Visit us in booth #210 or at the Information Desk, on the Sharp Terrace, 300 Level. Get ready to learn, be inspired, and most of all, have fun!

Sincerely,

Catherine Field, PhD, RD, ASN President

First day of programming

Numerous learning and networking opportunities await. Saturday highlights include:

  • A full day of microbiome programming starting at 8:00 AM and culminating with the Opening Session and Presidential Symposium: You Are What Your Microbes Eat (3:30 PM, Ballroom I/II). (see page 1)
  • Saturday Posters: Posters will be on display (8:00 AM – 5:00 PM) in Halls A and B and poster presentations will take place between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM. Topics include: Obesity, Diet Composition, Food Environment, Food Security, Global Nutrition I, and Nutritional Epidemiology I.
  • “Super Saturday” Award Competitions
  • Day 1 of the From Research to Practice Clinical Track (8:00 AM, Ballroom III)
  • Sponsored Satellite Programs: Future of Dietary Supplements Regulations (7:00 AM, Room 307/308, breakfast); Nutrients, Foods, Diets, People: Promoting Health Eating (11:00 AM, Ballroom IV, refreshments); Olive Oil-Supplemented Diet: Impacts on Cancer, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Health (11:00 AM, Room 307/308, lunch); and Optimizing Adult Protein Intake During Catabolic Health Conditions (11:00 AM, Room 309/310, lunch)
  • Big Data and Innovative Trial Design for Global Nutrition Research (1:30 PM, Ballroom IV)
  • Nutrition 2019 Orientation for first timers or anyone wanting to get the lay of the land (2:00 PM, Room 325)
  • Join us for the Opening Reception (5:30 PM, The Hub), visit the Nutrition 2019 exhibitors and network with nutrition professionals from around the world.
  • Physicians and medical students are invited to the National Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists Reception (6:00 PM, Science Stage in The Hub)

For details on these and other exciting activities, utilize the Nutrition 2019 app, printed Schedule at a Glance, and/or the online Schedule Planner.

Workshop Attendees Eat Up NHANES Data

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2016 What We Eat in America report is packed with data that’s important for nutrition research. But this data can be difficult to sort through. That’s one reason why Friday’s preconference workshop, Using National Dietary Data: Building Blocks to Expand Your Research Portfolio, was a sellout.

“There were 144 registered attendees with 16 countries, in addition to the U.S., represented,” said work-shop chair Alanna Moshfegh, MS, RD. Moshfegh works with the Food Surveys Research Group, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, USDA, and directed the What We Eat in America (WWEIA) survey. Attendees received a USB drive loaded with 35 documents about the WWEIA survey and analysis pro-grams. Topics included:

  • Key Points in Using WWEIA, NHANES 2015-2016
  • CDC’s Second Nutrition Report At-A-Glance Factsheet
  • Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies 2015-2016 At-A-Glance
  • What’s In The Foods You Eat Search Tool 2015-2016 Factsheet
  • Usual Nutrient Intake from Food and Beverages, by Gender and Age, What We Eat in America, NHANES 2013-2016 Table A
  • NHANES 2015-2016 Data Documentation, Codebook, and Frequencies, Demographic Variables and Sample Weights (DEMO_I)
  • NHANES Analytic Guidelines, 2011-2016The four-hour workshop was designed to be hands-on, with attendees scrolling through databases

The four-hour workshop was designed to be hands-on, with attendees scrolling through databases on their laptops and tablets as speakers provided “building blocks” for using WWEIA dietary intake data in nutrition practice and research.

Moshfegh and Ana Terry, MS, RD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, kicked off the workshop with a discussion of the essentials of NHANES dietary data. Topics included key points for using WWEIA data and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s automated multiple-pass method.

That was followed by an in-depth look at the various NHANES databases. Donna Rhodes, MS, RD, USDA, helped attendees understand the USDA’s Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, the USDA’s Food Patterns Equivalents Database, WWEIA Food Categories, and WWEIA facts and figures.

The final session focused on practical applications for dietary data analysis. Suzanne Morton, MPH, MBA, American Society for Nutrition, discussed how attendees can use WWEIA data files and structure, and build files for analysis.

“Attendees gained a comprehensive understanding of national dietary data, were informed of key points for using the data, and were provided extensive resources for data analysis,” Moshfegh said.

Presidential Symposium will include cutting-edge microbiome research

The microbiome is such an important topic in the nutrition world that ASN President Catherine Field, PhD, RD, is refer-ring to Saturday as “Nutrition and the Microbiome Day,” and has de-voted her Presidential Symposium to a closer examination of microbes in the diet.

Nutrition and the Microbiome Day kicks off at 8:00 AM with a series of oral presentations during the Gut Microbiome: Pediatric Studies session in Ballroom IV. That’s followed by the Advances in Nutritional Microbiology: From Fundamental Microbiome Science to Applications session from 1:00 to 3:00 PM in Ballroom I/II. And the capstone is the Presidential Symposium, “You Are What Your Microbes Eat,” which will be held from 3:30 to 5:15 PM in Ballroom I/II.

“The Symposium will feature new information on how diet and the microbiome influence each other, and the effect of geographical relocation on the composition of the microbiome,” Fields said.

Fields said she chose the topic because she works with several microbiome teams, “so the research is close to my heart.” And based on attendance at other ASN microbiome sessions, it’s close to many other members’ hearts as well.

“The symposium sessions on this topic at the previous two meetings of our society have been completely full, with many attendees being turned away,” she said. “This confirmed my idea that this was the right topic.

”The Presidential Symposium will be moderated by David Sela, PhD, University of Massachusetts. “Dr. Sela is a rising star in this field and a future leader in ASN,” Field said. “He played a major role on the pro-gram committee for Nutrition 2019.”

There will also be two speakers:

Dan Knights, PhD, University of Minnesota, will discuss the “Effects of Diet and Migration on the Human Microbiome.”

Peter James Turnbaugh, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, will talk about “Eating for Two Trillion: Pros and Cons of Diet-Induced Shifts in the Gut Microbiome.

”Knights and Turnbaugh are “two of the most recognized and productive early- to mid-career researchers in the field of the microbiome,” Fields said.

“One of my presidential priorities was to try and focus on career-building opportunities within the society for early and mid-career researchers. That’s why this symposium has a moderator and two speakers who are superstar scientists early in their careers.

”Fields notes that Knights and Turnbaugh don’t normally attend ASN Nutrition meetings. “David [Sela] and I are hoping that they may find our conference to be a good place for them and their trainees to present their future research,” she said.