Sponsored By: Athletic Greens

This Sponsored Satellite Program was originally presented at NUTRITION 2024, ASN's flagship meeting which was held June 29 to July 2, 2024 in Chicago, IL.

Diet is complex with many different nutrients being consumed during each eating occasion. We, as humans, rarely consume individual nutrients, but nutrition research oftentimes focuses on how individual nutrients (ascorbic acid, palmitate, etc.) impact different endpoints (disease states, health metrics, biomarkers, etc.). Nutrient synergy refers to the concept that the interaction between various nutrients in the body is significant and can have a greater impact on overall health than the sum of their individual effects. This program will review the concept of nutrient synergy, highlight the need for further understanding of nutrient-nutrient interactions, and discuss the challenges and future directions associated with this type of research. Previous in vitro and in vivo studies will be discussed regarding nutrient synergy to highlight current methodology and viewpoints of nutrient-nutrient interaction research. Publications from governmental entities (Food and Nutrition Board) and nutrition and pharmaceutical researchers will be highlighted to demonstrate the need for further understanding of this topic. Lastly, the unique challenges surrounding nutrient synergy research will be discussed to help guide scientists interested in embarking on nutrient-nutrient interaction studies.

Learning Objectives

• Define synergy as it relates to nutrition guided by definitions in other disciplines and assess the implications of positive and negative nutrient-nutrient interactions and understand how they might impact both research and patient centric outcomes
• Describe the current methodologies employed in nutrient synergy research and the pros and cons associated with different methodologies employed to assess nutrient-nutrient interactions
• Describe the challenges linked with researching nutrient synergy and acknowledge that it demands more attention from researchers and practitioners to assess how nutrients interact within the human body after consumption