National Nutrition Month® 2026
Make evidence-based, culturally responsive nutrition care reachable wherever food and health decisions are made.
Nutrition care works only when people can use it.
Food and nutrition shape outcomes across nearly every service line, from diabetes and heart disease to surgery, cancer care, pregnancy, and recovery after hospitalization. Yet nutrition care is often the easiest part of a plan to leave vague. A patient is told to eat better, handed a sheet, and sent home to a kitchen, budget, and culture the plan never considered.
The gap starts early and is broad. CDC reports that fewer than 1 in 10 children and adults eat the recommended amount of vegetables. CDC also reports that the prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults was 41.9% during 2017 to March 2020. These are population patterns, not individual failings, and they call for care that is practical and free of judgment.
Access to food is part of the clinical picture. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reports that 13.7% of U.S. households, about 18.3 million, were food insecure at some time during 2024. A nutrition plan that assumes a patient can buy, store, and prepare specific foods will fail quietly for many of them, and the failure will look like nonadherence.
Health systems already employ the professionals best positioned to close this gap. Registered dietitian nutritionists assess needs, translate evidence into plans people can follow, and adjust those plans as circumstances change. The operating question is whether patients who need that expertise actually reach it, whether screening is done without stigma, and whether plans reflect culture, language, budget, and living situation.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has set “Discover the Power of Nutrition” as the theme for National Nutrition Month® 2026. For health-system leaders, the power of nutrition is realized only through a dependable route: screen without stigma, assess with registered dietitian nutritionists, build a plan the person can use, and sustain access to food and follow-up after discharge.
Measure the share of patients who screen positive for nutrition risk or food insecurity and complete a registered dietitian nutritionist assessment or a documented resource connection, and report it quarterly.
CDC reports that fewer than 1 in 10 children and adults eat the recommended amount of vegetables.
USDA’s Economic Research Service reports that 13.7% of U.S. households (18.3 million) were food insecure at some time during 2024.
CDC reports that the prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults aged 20 and over was 41.9% during 2017 to March 2020.
Figures are summarized from the authoritative sources linked below. Definitions and denominators should be read with each source.
The route from screening to a plan people can live with
Four steps make nutrition care reachable and usable.
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Screen without stigma
Use respectful, validated screening for nutrition risk and food insecurity, and explain why the questions are asked.
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Assess with RDNs
Route patients who screen positive to a registered dietitian nutritionist assessment in person or by telehealth.
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Build a usable plan
Shape the plan around the person’s culture, language, budget, cooking resources, and clinical goals.
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Sustain access
Connect patients to food resources and scheduled follow-up so the plan holds after discharge or the visit ends.
Reliability rule: No positive nutrition-risk or food-insecurity screen is closed without a documented referral, resource connection, or reason declined.
What leaders should watch
Four instruments show whether nutrition care reaches people and holds.
Screening reach
Track whether nutrition-risk and food-insecurity screening happens where it is expected.
RDN access
See how quickly patients who screen positive reach a registered dietitian nutritionist.
Resource connection
Check that patients with food insecurity are connected to a resource, not only identified.
Sustained follow-up
Monitor whether planned nutrition follow-up actually occurs.
Handoffs that keep the plan in reach
A nutrition plan is only as good as the next team’s ability to carry it.
From screening teams to registered dietitian nutritionists
- Send screening results and the reason for referral.
- Note language, cultural, and accessibility preferences.
- Name who follows up if the assessment is not scheduled.
From inpatient care to home and primary care
- Send the nutrition plan, diet changes, and any supplements.
- Confirm the patient can obtain and prepare what the plan requires.
- Schedule outpatient nutrition follow-up before discharge.
From clinic to community food partners
- Make a warm referral with the patient’s consent.
- Share only the information the partner needs.
- Confirm the connection was completed and record the result.
A handoff is complete when the receiving team or partner confirms the patient is connected, not when a referral is sent.
A quarterly scorecard for nutrition care
Four questions keep leadership attention on screening, expertise, access, and equity.
| Signal | Executive question | Accountable owner | Review cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screening | Are nutrition-risk and food-insecurity screens completed respectfully where expected? | Nursing, primary care, and population health leaders | Quarterly |
| Expertise | Can patients who screen positive reach a registered dietitian nutritionist in time? | Clinical nutrition and access leaders | Monthly |
| Access | Are food-insecure patients connected to resources that they actually use? | Community health and social care leaders | Quarterly |
| Equity | Do screening, referral, and follow-up rates differ by language, race and ethnicity, payer, or geography? | Health equity and quality leaders | Quarterly |
A 90-day plan
Use National Nutrition Month® to start one improvement cycle that patients will notice.
Start with the populations where nutrition most affects outcomes in your system. Map how screening, referral, and follow-up happen today. Fix the route and resource connections before launching new education. Report progress to executive leadership with clinical nutrition leaders and community partners at the table.
Days 1–30: See the route
- Choose one or two priority populations or service lines.
- Map screening, RDN referral, and resource connection steps.
- Establish baselines for screening reach, RDN access, and resource connection.
Days 31–60: Build the structure
- Standardize respectful screening language and referral triggers.
- Expand RDN capacity through scheduling, telehealth, or group visits where appropriate.
- Agree on warm-referral and feedback expectations with community food partners.
Days 61–90: Sustain and report
- Review measures with clinical nutrition, nursing, and community health leaders.
- Stratify results by language, race and ethnicity, payer, and geography and assign owners for gaps.
- Publish a short progress summary to executive leadership.
The power of nutrition depends on the route to it.
National Nutrition Month® and its 2026 theme, “Discover the Power of Nutrition,” are a reminder that evidence-based nutrition care must be reachable and usable. That is an operating commitment, not only a message.
Turn National Nutrition Month® into accountable action.
Make evidence-based, culturally responsive nutrition care reachable wherever food and health decisions are made.
Leadership focus
Make evidence-based, culturally responsive nutrition care reachable: screen without stigma, assess with registered dietitian nutritionists, build a usable plan, and sustain access.
Workforce lens
Equip nursing, primary care, and discharge teams to screen respectfully and refer to registered dietitian nutritionists and community partners.
Patient and community lens
Make sure patients receive nutrition plans that fit their culture, budget, and kitchen, and know how to reach follow-up support.
Equity and access lens
Review screening, RDN access, and resource connection by language, race and ethnicity, payer, and geography, and act on the gaps.
Inspect the operating sequence
Nutrition affects outcomes across service lines, and food insecurity quietly undermines many care plans. This quarter we will measure whether positive screens reach an RDN or a confirmed resource connection.
- 01Screen without stigma
- 02Assess with RDNs
- 03Build a usable plan
- 04Sustain access
Leadership actions for this week
- Name an executive sponsor and frontline operating owner.
- Ask people using and operating the pathway where ownership becomes unclear.
- Test one representative route from first question to acknowledged next step.
- Select one barrier that can be corrected without overstating the evidence.
- Set a review date and define how completion will be verified.
Candidate measures
Define every numerator, denominator where relevant, owner, data source, exclusions, cadence, and limitation locally. These are management prompts, not external benchmarks.
- Share of eligible encounters with a completed nutrition-risk and food-insecurity screen
- Median days from positive screen to completed RDN assessment
- Share of positive food-insecurity screens with a documented, confirmed resource connection
Department readiness checklist
- The public and staff entry points match the actual approved process.
- A specific role accepts each request, referral, or escalation.
- Handoffs include acknowledgment and a visible unresolved state.
- Language, disability, digital, transportation, and trust barriers receive explicit review.
- Communications do not introduce unsupported themes, statistics, or clinical advice.
- A named leader will review what changed after the observance.
Intended audiences
- Executive and Operational Leaders
- Public Health and Community Partners
Staff communication template
During National Nutrition Month®, our organization will review how we screen for nutrition risk and food insecurity and how patients reach registered dietitian nutritionists. Please screen respectfully and make sure every positive screen has a documented next step.
Community communication template
March is National Nutrition Month®, and this year’s theme is “Discover the Power of Nutrition.” We encourage community members to learn about local food resources and to ask their care team about nutrition support.
Measurement worksheet
- Signal
- What observable condition will show whether the route works?
- Definition
- What is included, excluded, and counted?
- Owner
- Who reviews the signal and acts on exceptions?
- Cadence
- When will leaders review it?
- Equity check
- Which differences require protected, locally appropriate review?
- Closure
- What evidence will confirm the improvement was completed?
Authoritative resources
- About National Nutrition Month®, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
- National Nutrition Month®, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
- About Nutrition, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Food Security in the U.S. – Key Statistics & Graphics, USDA Economic Research Service
- Adult Obesity Facts, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Verification note: The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states that the theme for National Nutrition Month® 2026 is “Discover the Power of Nutrition” and that the campaign is held in March, consistent with the calendar dates.