Goals in Nutrition Science 2020-2025

Josep Bassaganya-Riera; Elliot M Berry; Ellen E Blaak; Barbara Burlingame; Johannes le Coutre; Willem van Eden; Ahmed El-Sohemy; J Bruce German; Dietrich Knorr; Christophe Lacroix; Maurizio Muscaritoli; David C Nieman; Michael Rychlik; Andrew Scholey; Mauro Serafini

doi:10.3389/fnut.2020.606378

Goals in Nutrition Science 2020-2025

Front Nutr. 2021 Feb 9:7:606378. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2020.606378. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) Institute, Blacksburg, VA, United States.
² Braun School of Public Health, Hebrew University - Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
³ Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
⁴ School of Public Health, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand.
⁵ School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
⁷ Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁸ Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.
⁹ Institute of Food Technology and Chemistry, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
¹⁰ Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹¹ Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
¹² Human Performance Laboratory, Department of Biology, Appalachian State University, Kannapolis, NC, United States.
¹³ Technical University of Munich, Analytical Food Chemistry, Freising, Germany.
¹⁴ Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
¹⁵ Functional Food and Metabolic Stress Prevention Laboratory, Faculty of Biosciences and Technologies for Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy.

Abstract

Five years ago, with the editorial board of Frontiers in Nutrition, we took a leap of faith to outline the Goals for Nutrition Science - the way we see it (1). Now, in 2020, we can put ourselves to the test and take a look back. Without a doubt we got it right with several of the key directions. To name a few, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Food and Nutrition are part of the global public agenda, and the SDGs contribute to the structuring of international science and research. Nutritional Science has become a critical element in strengthening work on the SDGs, and the development of appropriate methodologies is built on the groundwork of acquiring and analyzing big datasets. Investigation of the Human Microbiome is providing novel insight on the interrelationship between nutrition, the immune system and disease. Finally, with an advanced definition of the gut-brain-axis we are getting a glimpse into the potential for Nutrition and Brain Health. Various milestones have been achieved, and any look into the future will have to consider the lessons learned from Covid-19 and the sobering awareness about the frailty of our food systems in ensuring global food security. With a view into the coming 5 years from 2020 to 2025, the editorial board has taken a slightly different approach as compared to the previous Goals article. A mind map has been created to outline the key topics in nutrition science. Not surprisingly, when looking ahead, the majority of scientific investigation required will be in the areas of health and sustainability. Johannes le Coutre, Field Chief Editor, Frontiers in Nutrition.

Keywords: food system; health; nutrition sciences; sustainability; technology.

Publication types

Review