Katie Brown, EdD, RDN’s Post

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National Dairy Council President / Dairy Management Inc Executive Vice President / Leader and Strategist / Science Communicator / TEDx Speaker / Dairy Nutrition Champion / Educator and Learner

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the chance to share with this community what I believe is the next frontier in modern health and wellness: the food matrix. More and more, the science indicates that when we focus on single nutrients in isolation, outside of the context of their whole-food package, we may be missing the forest for the trees. A food’s health potential seems to go beyond the sum of its individual nutrient parts. Decades of nutrition research have already shown that dairy foods play an important role in improving diet quality and reducing disease risk, and the science is just beginning to reveal dairy’s link to functional wellness benefits thanks to its whole-food package. To explore this concept further, National Dairy Council (NDC) recently brought together over 100 scientists and health professional thought leaders at the Undercover Nutrition: A Symposium Decrypting Food and Dairy Matrix Science, aptly held at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. Our mission? To review the state of the science on food matrices, with a focus on the latest evidence on dairy food matrices as a guiding case study, and to connect the relevance of the science to the broader health needs of Americans by translating new nutrition insights and messaging into education and outreach. I’m feeling truly inspired by how dairy foods can provide nutrition solutions for a healthier future. Here’s what I learned: 🔎 Continued research and education is vital. Investment in research, contributions to the body of scientific evidence and partnerships with health and wellness organizations have always been core to NDC. The potential of the dairy matrix further highlights the need for continued research and education on the health benefits of dairy foods like milk, cheese and yogurt. 🤝 There is power in cross-sector collaboration. Convening diverse stakeholders from the nutrition science and health and wellness communities—including the dairy farmers who grow and raise our food—has the potential to drive innovative ideas, fill scientific gaps, and usher in an exciting era of nutrition discovery and application. 🥛 Dairy foods play a pivotal, unique role in healthy eating patterns for a diverse population. While food matrix science is complex and still emerging, evidence-based communications with a multidisciplinary approach can help put dairy foods at a variety of fat levels into the context of culturally acceptable, energy-balanced healthy eating patterns. I’m energized about the clear opportunity for a dairy matrix movement that includes collaborative interest in scientific discovery and educational strategies necessary to effectively share the benefits of dairy foods – with some fat flexibility – as part of healthy eating patterns to improve lives. Foods like milk, cheese and yogurt provide us with a unique package of essential nutrients that are hard to match – per bite, per sip or per dollar. #DairyMatrix #FoodMatrix #RDN #Dietitian 

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Lynn Ulatowski, PhD

I help students achieve academic success// Positive | Learning | Equity | Respect | Perseverance | Grant writer | Author | Teacher | Editor | Volunteer

2mo

This was one of the best science meetings I have attended. Thanks to all the organizers, speakers and sponsors.

Wonderful symposium! Thanks for having me be a part of it!

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