The Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE), the world’s largest annual gathering of food and nutrition professionals, took place October 11–14, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee. The event is organized by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the largest professional organization for nutrition and dietetics practitioners in the United States, with tens of thousands of members worldwide.
The 2025 conference brought together more than 7,500 professionals, including registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs), nutrition and dietetics technicians, registered (NDTRs), researchers, public health officials, physicians, and food industry leaders. As in previous years, the event combined an extensive scientific program featuring lectures, educational sessions, and panel discussions with an expo showcasing products, supplements, and technologies developed for nutrition professionals.
Several emerging areas took center stage at FNCE 2025, reflecting broader shifts across the nutrition industry. These included plant-based proteins, products designed to support gut microbiome health, continuous glucose monitoring technologies, and the growing integration of nutrition into preventive healthcare.
Pictured: Anastasiia Shapovalova, a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
In her opening remarks, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics President Deanne Brandstetter emphasized two themes that would resonate throughout the conference: evidence-based practice and public trust in nutrition professionals.
Brandstetter stressed that scientific evidence should underpin both a dietitian’s clinical practice and professional credibility. She also highlighted the importance of communicating clearly with clients and taking responsibility for the recommendations practitioners provide.
Addressing today’s complex nutrition challenges, she emphasized the need for collaboration among dietitians, physicians, researchers, educators, and industry representatives. Other priorities included expanding educational initiatives and supporting the next generation of nutrition professionals.
Food as Medicine
One of the conference’s major areas of focus was the “Food as Medicine” session.
Amy Myrdal Miller, MS, RDN, president and founder of Farmer’s Daughter Consulting, discussed the expanding role of nutrition in disease prevention.
Her presentation focused on practical challenges, including making healthy eating accessible across income levels, helping patients establish sustainable dietary habits, and communicating nutrition guidance in clear, understandable terms. Another key topic was the role of dietitians in translating scientific research into practical strategies people can incorporate into their daily lives.
Related issues were addressed by Charlie Arnot, CEO of The Center for Food Integrity and an expert in public trust and transparency within the food industry.
Arnot identified a persistent challenge: access to nutritious food and reliable nutrition education remains uneven, even though both play an important role in preventing chronic disease.
He argued that nutrition recommendations are effective only when they’re realistic and aligned with an individual’s budget, cultural background, and eating habits.
Among the trends he highlighted were closer collaboration between healthcare and nutrition professionals, personalized nutrition strategies, digital counseling tools, growing trust in qualified practitioners, and increasing consumer interest in locally sourced and sustainably produced foods.
Expo Hall
Beyond its scientific sessions, FNCE featured its traditional Expo Hall, where dozens of companies, brands, and educational organizations showcased developments across nutrition, sports nutrition, and the wellness industry.
The 2025 exhibits reflected the breadth of the evolving nutrition market, from plant-based protein sources and gut health products to clean-label formulations, functional foods, and personalized health monitoring technologies.
The Expo Hall often provides an early indication of where the mainstream food and supplement markets are headed over the next several years, long before emerging trends become widely visible on grocery store shelves.
A Practitioner’s Perspective
To better understand which trends stood out to professionals working directly with clients, we spoke with Anastasiia Shapovalova, a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, fitness trainer, and nutrition specialist who attended FNCE 2025.
Anastasiia, let’s start with the Expo Hall. As a practicing professional, what stood out to you most?
The biggest takeaway for me was how much the concept of sports nutrition is changing in the United States. The market is moving beyond traditional sports nutrition toward a broader category of wellness nutrition. Natural ingredients, shorter ingredient lists, and transparent labeling are no longer just competitive advantages for many brands. They’re becoming basic expectations.
Plant-based proteins also caught my attention. Pea and hemp proteins no longer feel like niche products. They’re becoming increasingly common in mainstream product lines.
Another trend is the much closer relationship between brands and the professional nutrition community. RDNs and other nutrition specialists are increasingly involved in more than product promotion. They’re also helping brands establish credibility and earn consumer trust.
There was also a strong presence of gut health products, probiotics, and multifunctional formulations that combine ingredients such as protein, vitamins, probiotics, or adaptogens in a single product.
The clean-label segment continues to expand as well, with growing emphasis on simpler formulations and fewer unnecessary artificial ingredients.
FNCE also featured a briefing on glucose monitoring. What did you find most interesting about that session?
Pictured: Anastasiia Shapovalova with Sheetal Desai, a session speaker and diabetes specialist at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.
Yes. It was a Dexcom briefing [Glucose Tells a Story: Using Glucose Biosensing to Facilitate Behavior Change] about how real-time glucose data can be used not just to monitor glucose levels, but to help people change their behavior.
Using the Dexcom G7 and Stelo glucose biosensor as examples, the presenters demonstrated how individuals can recognize connections between their glucose levels and everyday factors, including what they eat, how well they sleep, whether they’re experiencing stress, and how physically active they are.
The speakers, Rachel Stahl Salzman [MS, RDN, CDN, CDCES; Weill Cornell Medicine] and Sheetal Desai [RD, CDCES; Stanford Medicine Children’s Health], talked about the idea of a “glucose story” and how it can help people make more informed changes to their habits.
That was the most valuable part for me. Instead of simply being told to “eat healthier” or “move more,” people can gain additional insight into how their glucose levels respond to different foods and daily activities. This information may help make recommendations easier to understand and more personalized.
I was particularly interested in Sheetal Desai’s experience working with pregnant women. She demonstrated how glucose monitoring can help guide dietary and lifestyle adjustments and improve the management of pregnancy-related risks.
That’s very much in line with the approach I try to bring to my own practice. Rather than relying on abstract recommendations, I focus on specific data that reflect what’s happening in each individual’s body.
The same principle forms the foundation of my own methodology for working with pregnant women, which I’ve organized into a practical guide titled Functional Method of Pregnancy Support [Functional Method of Pregnancy Support: A Trimester-Adapted Protocol for the Integration of Breathing Control, Functional Loading, and Nutritional Support: Methodical Recommendations, Anastasiia Shapovalova].
Which session did you find most valuable for your professional practice?
As someone who works with pregnant and postpartum women every day, one of the most valuable sessions for me focused on postpartum recovery [An Interdisciplinary and Evidence-Based Guide to Supporting a Woman’s Recovery During the Postpartum Period].
The session brought together three speakers who approached the same topic from different perspectives: a physician, a dietitian, and a physical activity expert. Together, they presented a comprehensive approach that I rarely see covered in one place.
Dr. Molly McGue [MD; OB-GYN, Summit Health, New Jersey] discussed the physiological changes women experience during pregnancy and after childbirth, as well as the importance of early medical follow-up in preventing complications.
Diana Licalzi [MS, RD, CDCES; co-founder, Type 2 Diabetes Revolution] explained the role of nutrition in three phases of postpartum recovery, focusing on specific nutrients such as protein, vitamin C, zinc, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids. She also discussed the potential relationship between diet quality and postpartum mental health, including postpartum depression, a topic that I believe still doesn’t get enough attention in the industry.
Dr. Rachele Pojednic [PhD, EdM, FACSM; Stanford Lifestyle Management Center] talked about how pregnancy affects muscles and posture, explained the importance of pelvic floor and core recovery, and discussed how postpartum recovery can extend over many months depending on individual circumstances. That’s a perspective I often share with my clients, but hearing it reinforced by experts at this level during a professional session was important for me as well.
This is exactly why conferences like FNCE matter so much to professionals who work directly with clients. They provide an opportunity to see how approaches in medicine, dietetics, and wellness are evolving, learn from research and experts across different disciplines, and evaluate which strategies can be most effectively applied in everyday practice.
For me, that’s the real value of FNCE. It’s not simply about discovering new trends. It’s about evaluating your own professional approach against the latest research and the discussions taking place among leading experts in the field.
