Building Relationships – One Nutrition and Health Professional at a Time

Capitalizing on the power of personal interaction is the name of the game for the Beef Checkoff’s Nutrition and Health Team in 2023. Nutrition and health professionals, researchers, dietitians and nutrition influencers are essential advocates for beef and can support its role in a healthy lifestyle. Now more than ever, consumers rely on the advice and recommendations of their healthcare professionals (HCP), and trust between HCPs and consumers are at an all-time high.

TRUST FROM CONSUMERS

• Registered dietitians and nutritionists are the most frequently consulted health professionals for nutrition and healthy eating information.¹
• They are the most trusted source of information about which foods to eat or avoid. ².
• 77% of global consumers say that the advice of dietitians and nutritionists impacts which foods they buy. ³

TRUST WITHIN THE PROFESSION

• Registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) (62%) are the third-most-used source of information by HCPs to stay informed about food and nutrition, after Professional Associations (69%) and Academia (67%).⁴
• 79% of HCPs refer their patients and clients to RDNs.
• 94% of RDNs use other RDNs as food and nutrition sources of information.⁵

Knowing the considerable value and extensive consumer influence these healthcare professionals have, the Nutrition Team is intentionally building relationships and strategically providing evidence-based research and resources to this audience. These graphs show how HCPs prefer to receive and share nutrition and health information:

With this research in mind, the Nutrition Team closed out 2022 with a couple of in-person conferences and events to establish new relationships and strengthen existing connections with health professionals. The Nutrition Team partnered with Produce for Better Health to host a #BetterTogether reception at the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) in Orlando, Florida. This event attracted more than 80 health professional attendees to collaborate on ways to pair beef and produce to optimize health and nutrition.

Following FNCE, the Nutrition and Health Team moved straight into hosting a three-day nutrition influencer “Meat-Up” event to build relationships with 15 leading Registered Dietitian influencers and offer valuable beef nutrition education sessions. Between beef nutrition 101 presentations, a hands-on culinary education workshop, social media masterclass and a beef sustainability and industry panel, attendees could experience multiple aspects of beef nutrition. Attendees’ specialties ranged from pediatric nutrition to diabetes management to sports performance. Together they had a collective social media reach of more than 1.2 million consumers.

Also, the Nutrition Team is developing a Nutrition Seminar Program to increase collaboration and involvement with state beef councils. This program will place credentialed expert speakers at state-wide healthcare meetings across the country. Currently, the team is working on securing speaking engagements for 22 credentialed experts at health professional education conferences this year. Additionally, as February recognizes National Heart Health Month, the Nutrition Team is partnering with four nutrition influencers to share research and resources that supports lean beef’s role in a heart-healthy diet.

The vital work of the Nutrition and Health Team is establishing lean beef as the protein of choice in healthy diets. Effectively engaging nutrition and health professionals and remaining grounded in sound science encourages higher demand for beef, which leads to greater success for producers everywhere. Beef Checkoff efforts will continue to build a solid foundation and seek opportunities to connect with these professionals.