American College of Nutrition

The American College of Nutrition (ACN) is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization established to encourage the scientific investigation of nutrition and metabolism. The ACN publishes the Journal of the American College of Nutrition and hosts scientific conferences in the US and in Europe.

History and Mission

The American College of Nutrition was founded in 1959 with the mission to enhance nutrition and metabolism knowledge among physicians and professionals from all disciplines with a common interest in nutrition and to promote the application of such knowledge to the maintenance of health and treatment of disease.^[1]

The ACN's goals are to:

• Provide an organization which encompasses the needs of physicians and professionals from all disciplines with a common interest in nutrition.
• Provide a forum for interchange of views, professional and educational experiences, and research results in the general field of nutrition.
• Encourage the incorporation of a strong, clearly-defined nutrition teaching module in the curriculum of all medical schools, and to promote the inclusion of nutritional education in medical postgraduate training.
• Promote educational programs at all levels, and provide advocacy support for non-M.D. nutrition professionals.^[1]

Structure

The ACN is governed by a member-elected Board of Directors. Committees are charged by the board with the responsibilities for the various operations of the ACN and report to the Board of Directors.^[2][3]

President (2011)

The current president of the ACN is Harry G. Preuss, MD, MACN, CNS.^[4]

Board of Directors (2011)

• Harry G. Preuss, MD, MACN, CNS - President
• Beverly B. Teter, PhD, FACN, CNS - Vice President
• Manashi Bagchi, PhD, FACN
• Corinne Bush, MS, CNS
• George J. Brewer, MD, MACN
• Mary G. Enig, PhD, MACN, CNS
• Amalia Gastaldelli, PhD
• Nicholas V. Perricone, MD, FACN
• Ananda Prasad, MD, PhD, MACN
• Dana Reed, MS, CNS
• Michael M. Rothkopf, MD, FACN, FACP
• Michael S. Stroka, JD, MBA, MS, CNS^[2]

Committees

• Executive Committee
• Membership Committee
• Programs Committee
• Continuing Medical Education (CME) Committee
• Nominating Committee
• Development Committee
• Publications Committee
• Communications Committee^[3]

European Chapter

The European chapter of the American College of Nutrition was established in 2001 to promote scientific endeavors in the field of nutritional sciences. It works to foster a continuous, bidirectional flow of scientific knowledge and experience in the field of nutrition and metabolism between the United States and Europe. The European chapter has hosted eight scientific conferences since 2001.^[5]

Membership

Members of the American College of Nutrition are clinicians, researchers and academicians, students, and international nutrition professionals. Categories of membership include Fellow (FACN), Master (MACN), Member, Student/Trainee, Emeritus, and Honorary.^[6]

There are two credentials granted to ACN members who have met certain criteria:

Fellow of the American College of Nutrition (FACN)

Minimum Requirements for Fellows of the ACN:

1. Shall hold a doctoral degree from an institution recognized by an accrediting board authorized by the US Department of Education, or from a foreign institution with equivalent standards.
2. Shall have demonstrated expertise in patient care, research, and/or teaching of nutrition as evidenced by one or more of the following:
   1. Certification by one or more ACGME recognized specialty boards
   2. Board certification by the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists
   3. Outstanding experience in nutrition as a practitioner and/or educator, documented by appropriate letters of recommendations
3. Shall have co-authored five or more publications in peer reviewed medical or scientific journals relevant to nutrition with lead authorship on at least one paper.^[6]

Master of the American College of Nutrition (MACN)

This category is reserved for Members/Fellows who have demonstrated, over an extended period, outstanding service to the ACN and/or have been recognized nationally or internationally for outstanding contribution in the field of nutrition.^[6]

Publications

The Journal of the American College of Nutrition is a peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly (every two months) by the ACN with an impact factor of 2.36. The JACN includes:

• Original and innovative research in nutrition with useful application for researchers, physicians, and other health care professionals
• Critical reviews on pertinent nutrition topics that highlight key teaching points and relevance to nutrition
• Letters to the editors and commentaries on important issues in the field of nutrition
• Abstract clusters on nutritional topics with editorial comments
• Book reviews
• Abstracts from the annual meeting of the American College of Nutrition in the October issue

The JACN is abstracted or indexed in Current Contents, Index Medicus, MEDLINE, Science Citation Index, SciSearch, Research Alert, Chemical Abstracts, CAB International and BIOSIS.^[7][8]

Activities

Annual Nutrition Science Conferences

The ACN has held 51 Annual Scientific Conferences prior to 2011.^[9] The 2011 Conference, "Emergence of Nutrition as Core Medicine", is being held from November 16-19 at the Malcolm Forbes Conference Center of Morristown Medical Center of Morristown, NJ. Highly visible figures in the field of nutrition such as Dean Ornish, MD, Michael Holick, MD, PhD, FACN, Gerald Reaven, MD, Leo Galland, MD, FACN and many others will speak on topics from metabolic syndrome to vitamin D and how they intersect.^[10]

Controversy

According to the Integrity in Science project, the ACN sponsored Journal of the American College of Nutrition failed to disclose the ties of the editor and authors of their June 2006 supplement on sodium to the food industry.^[11]

The Editor in Chief of the JACN subsequently published a letter in the Journal noting the ambiguity in the conflict of interest disclosure process then in place and a new documentation procedure was put in place to remedy this.^[12]

Policy of Not Accepting Corporate Funding

In the past, the ACN accepted funding from for-profit corporations. In 2011, the ACN adopted a policy that they shall no longer accept corporate funding:

"The American College of Nutrition accepts no funding from for-profit corporations. This policy fosters our mission and our ability to advance unbiased science without compromise."^[13]

See also

• American Dietetic Association

References

External links

• American College of Nutrition
• Journal of the American College of Nutrition
• Archive Articles from the American College of Nutrition