Communicating Healthy Eating: Lessons Learned and Future Directions

Achieving and maintaining wide-scale positive dietary change is a complex and formidable endeavor, given the current food environment. Moreover, for positive change to occur, nutrition messages should be communicated in a scientifically precise, yet practical and motivating manner. This challenge was the impetus for the organization of a 2-day workshop hosted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Division of Nutrition Research Coordination (DNRC), both of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The conference included communication, nutrition, and behavioral scientists, market researchers, media advocates, journalists, and public policy experts. Discussions regarding communication efforts and the best methods to craft, deliver, and evaluate the impact of nutrition messages illustrated both the challenges and the opportunities we face. During the discussions, important recommendations for nutrition communicators and interventionists emerged, based on existing knowledge from the communications field, lessons learned thus far, and noted gaps in our knowledge.