Monitoring Nutrition Security: Perspectives from a Workshop on Nutrition Security Measurement

Top Things to Know

Without validated tools, it’s difficult to assess whether interventions are improving nutritional wellbeing or reducing diet-related disease.

Understanding how individuals perceive and experience their ability to eat healthfully can guide more effective and equitable interventions.

Leveraging existing datasets and developing interactive dashboards (data driven approach) can help initiatives monitor outcomes in real time and tailor programs to specific populations.

Summary of Conclusion/Findings

This paper summarizes insights from a 2024 USDA-hosted workshop focused on developing standardized measures for nutrition security, a concept distinct from food security that emphasizes both healthy diets and nutritional status. Unlike food security, nutrition security lacks agreed-upon definitions and validated tools, which limits its use in policy and program evaluation. The workshop introduced a conceptual framework with two core constructs—healthy diets (including adequacy and moderation) and nutritional status—and explored various measurement approaches, from comprehensive dietary recalls to brief survey tools. Participants emphasized the importance of experiential measures that reflect lived realities, especially for vulnerable populations. Multiple pragmatic and aspirational scenarios were discussed, including dashboards, wearable tech, and integration of existing datasets. The paper calls for sustained collaboration and investment to develop feasible, valid, and actionable nutrition security metrics.