PEN eNews 5(1) June 2015

Pseudoscience – are the tides changing? 

U nsubstantiated nutrition and diet claims are nothing new. But with the diversity of easily accessible self-publication communication channels (blogs, Facebook, e-books and the like) and the power of story-telling, which appeal to our emotional brain, just about anyone can craft a story of nutritional healing. A common theme of these kinds of stories includes a description of how they were once plagued with debilitating physical symptoms, and how their change in diet, often demonizing a particular category of food, miraculously cured their woes (Think Vani Hari, Gwyneth Paltrow, Pete Evans and many more). 

In this issue of PEN eNews 5(1), we continue to showcase dietitians as leaders in nutrition. National Nutrition Month 2015 Gets Eating Well at Work on Everyone’s Agenda! shares highlights from Dietitian’s of Canada’s national Nutrition Month. We share the energy of national conferences and advocacy in Dietitians driving change at the DAA 32nd National Conference. Trust a Dietitian: A British Dietetic Association campaign, and Celebrating PEN@10 years at the Dietitians of Canada conference.  Profiling dietitians amidst the sea of unregulated nutrition professionals shows how a dietitian used her sphere of influence to respond to unregulated nutrition professionals. We welcome South African Dietitians to the PEN® Community and say goodbye to two of our PEN team members. Finally, as we continue the countdown to our PEN@10 celebrations, we invite you to reflect and contribute to a story Most significant change in nutrition knowledge and dietetic practice in the past decade? All this and more in eNews 5(1).

Kristyn Hall MSc, RD
Editor, PEN eNews

Announcements from PEN

PEN is thrilled to welcome the Association for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA) as its newest member of the PEN^® Community.

PEN is thrilled to welcome the Association for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA) as its newest member of the PEN^® Community. The joining of members of ADSA to the PEN^® community provides an expanded opportunity for dietitians to contribute and collaborate globally.

PEN^® was launched in South Africa in April by the PEN^® Translational Research Lead and Associate Professor Judy Bauer and Chief Executive Officer Claire Hewat of the Dietitians Association of Australia. Three workshops were held in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg highlighting the key features of PEN. Three additional presentations, ‘Oncology Dietitians Toolkit’, ‘Getting Started in Research’ and ‘Using Social Media Without Getting Burnt’, were also delivered.

As an indication of the enthusiasm for PEN^®, several ADSA members from Mopani (pictured) travelled more than 500km to hear the PEN^® presentation, and PEN^® will be available to the 1,500 registered dietitians members of ADSA in South Africa. ADSA members were pleased to receive the PEN^® mascot PENny (pictured).
Judy and Claire received excellent hospitality while in South Africa, particularly from ADSA Executive member Linda Drummond. While in Cape Town, visits to landmarks the Cape of Storms and Table Mountain were amazing highlights and it is clear to see why ADSA is host of the International Confederation of Dietetic Associations meeting in Cape Town in 2020. 

Linda Drummond from the ADSA Executive Committee said: “ADSA is excited to collaborate with our colleagues from around the world. PEN is not just a clinical education tool, it also provides evidence-based answers to everyday practice questions and allows you to find and evaluate knowledge from international research. There is also an opportunity for South African dietitians to provide content to PEN, building our reputation world-wide.”

Welcome to the Association for Dietetics in South Africa. We look forward to connecting and learning together.

What's New in PEN

How can PEN toolkits help me in my practice?

 

PEN^® toolkits are based on the evidence within knowledge pathway key practice points(s) and practice guidance. Toolkits are written in sections based on the Nutrition Care Process, with four key sections that dietitians can use directly in their practice.
 Three main ways to find toolkits in PEN®: 1. On the PEN^® Home page, click on the Toolkit icon that leads to all available toolkits. 3. When you are within a knowledge pathway, click on the Toolkit tab on the right hand side. The Toolkit tab will only display as an option if the knowledge pathway has a toolkit.

For more information, view the Module V Toolkit orientation module, both accessible on the PEN^® home page.

National Nutrition Month 2015 Gets Eating Well at Work on Everyone’s Agenda!

This year’s national Nutrition Month theme focused on eating well at work. This broad and unique topic is meaningful to employed Canadians translating nutritional and behavioural science and evidence onto the workplace agenda! The catchy slogan Eating 9 to 5! was embraced by many dietitians, politicians and the media creating a twitter flurry. The level of interest, enthusiasm and relevance this campaign had for members, volunteers, other organizations and businesses at times was inspiring! The campaign hummed along with the tune ‘Eating 9 to 5!’ with strong coverage and interest throughout March.

Profiling dietitians amidst the sea of unregulated nutrition professionals

As a Registered Dietitian, I've found that it can be nearly impossible to change someone's beliefs and opinions on diet and nutrition, even with ample scientific evidence to prove otherwise, because people become passionate about what they know to be true. When people become passionate about something (especially when it comes to food and nutrition), they spread the news to their friends, families, and social media networks. In many cases, this information or advice lacks evidence and comes from those without scientific prowess, such as in the case of Vani Hari, AKA The Food Babe, an advocate for natural, organic and GMO-free food.

The DAA 32nd National Conference: Dietitians driving change

The Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) 32nd National Conference was held in Perth, Western Australia from 13-16 May, with the theme ‘Dietitians Driving Change’. For the first time, the conference opened on the Wednesday evening which allowed for two full days of sessions and workshops, and an early finish on the Saturday. The evening consisted of the Welcome to Country and the keynote presentations from Professor Simon Towler, and an opening plenary speech by Dr Rick Mattes, USA on ‘The role of nuts in weight and glycaemia management’.

Trust a Dietitian: A British Dietetic Association campaign

Trust a Dietitian is a British Dietetic Association (BDA) campaign simply aiming to:

Celebrating PEN@10 years at the Dietitians of Canada conference

Passion. Excellence. Achievement. New frontiers. Stronger together. These words describe the sentiment of the PEN@10 celebrations at the recent Dietitians of Canada Conference, held in Quebec City. 

Celebrating PEN@10: An international success story was presented to hundreds of conference delegates by Jayne Thirsk, Judy Bauer and Sue Kellie, from Dietitians of Canada, Dietitians Association of Australia and the British Dietetic Association, respectively. A video was shown in this presentation, where dietitians spoke of how PEN^® has impacted their practice. The PEN^® mascot, PENny, also made an appearance in this video. You can watch the video here.  

After this presentation, delegates rushed to our PEN^® booth to get their own PENny penguin, and began tweeting pictures of PENny around Quebec City. We have created a PENny album on our Facebook page. Share your pictures of PENny! Our PEN team connected with conference delegates at our PEN^® booth where we showcased the many features available in PEN, including newer features such as My PEN^® Favourites and My PEN^® Content Alerts. We consulted PEN users on how they would like to see the PEN handout template modified to better suit their needs and how we can better help dietitians in their practice. Our evidence analyst, Dawna Royall co-presented on telehealth in a session titled Teledietetic: Emerging practice opportunities. Dawna presented a literature review on telehealth, which was followed by a clinician perspective, as well as regulatory issues to be aware of.Our PEN resource manager, Jane Bellman, presented a poster on the creation of 25 open access, short, high quality evidence-based videos on healthy living to support families with children. More details on these videos are available here.  
The PEN^® Global Team had its first in-person operations meeting, to celebrate our accomplishments as a global collaboration. We had our IT team present their design for our upcoming PEN^® website redesign. See a sneak peak here! This meeting resulted in vibrant discussion that will help to shape how PEN® will continue to evolve in the future. PEN^®’s Director, Jayne Thirsk, introduced the speaker at the final conference plenary. Dr Tim Caulfield presented Finding truth in a sea of myth and misinformation where he shared his passion for challenging the pervasive pseudoscience that puts consumers at risk of serious adverse health consequences. He distinguished between real and junk science and highlighted PEN as a go-to source for evidence-based information.Judging by the energy of the conference, both in person, and the flurry of activity with the conference hashtag #DCconf15, delegates agreed that we are indeed Stronger Together.

Written by Kristyn Hall MSc, RD 
PEN^® Communications Lead 

 

Announcements from PEN

Invitation to contribute: Most significant change in nutrition knowledge and dietetic practice in the past decade? 

Knowledge Transfer Events and Resources

Interested in knowledge transfer activities? Have a look at these Webinars and thought-provoking blogs on pseudoscience.

Webinars:

Drug Nutrient Interactions

The science and art of nutrition blogging

Self-management using the mindful eating cycle

To market, to market…to sell a good food.

The Decline of Pseudoscience.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy. May 3, 2015. Available here. 

Reducing science to sensational headlines too often misses the bigger picture.

By Leon Vanstone. April 30, 2015. Available here.

Alternative therapies: what’s the harm?

By Emma Smith. April 27, 2015. Available here.

The Logical Failures of Food Fads: Why studying the humanities can help you live a healthy life. By Alan Levinovitz. April 21, 2015. Available here.

   
Reporting on quacks and pseudoscience: The problem for journalists.

By Michael Hiltzik. April 13, 2015. Available here.

8 reasons why blogs are great for sharing evidence.

By Sarah Chapman. May 1, 2015. Available here. 

 

Pseudoscience meets pop culture: Health law researcher investigates fiction masked as fact. 

By Malone Mullin. January 19, 2015. Available here.

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