TITLE:
Diversity in the Human Nutrition and Dietetics Profession: Challenges and Opportunities
AUTHORS:
Melissa Johnson
KEYWORDS:
Nutrition, Dietetics, Diversity, Chronic Disease, Public Health
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.16 No.11,
November
25,
2025
ABSTRACT: Chronic diet-related diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States and worldwide. The challenges of food access, affordability, variety and nutritional adequacy—all precursors to food security, coupled with unmodifiable risk factors such as genetic traits (i.e., family history), age, gender, race and ethnicity may predispose individuals to increased risk for disease pathogenesis. Other factors such as certain co-morbidities (e.g., prediabetes, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, etc.), demographic, behavioral and lifestyle characteristics, although modifiable, may promote advanced disease trajectories if not rehabilitated. As individual determinants of health are diverse, a diverse team of healthcare professionals is necessary in addressing the challenge of chronic diet-related disease, which may be one of the greatest threats to public health. Critical to this team are individuals within the nutrition and dietetics profession. This short narrative review will briefly address select challenges and opportunities for diversity in the human nutrition and dietetics profession.