The IUNS-ICN Paris 2025 scientific programme

The scientific programme comprised 160 symposia covering a wide spectrum of topics. In total, 3,438 abstracts were submitted, of which 2,302 were presented, including 1,032 oral and 1,270 e-posters, which evidenced both the scale and competitiveness of the scientific contributions. The generous support of the numerous reviewers listed in this document is recognised and greatly appreciated. Researchers from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) were well represented across submissions and presentations, contributing to the diversity of perspectives and strengthening the global scope of the scientific discussions.

The distribution of abstracts across these topics was as follows:

• • Basic Research in Nutrition (n = 231);

• • Climate Change, Sustainability and Nutrition (n = 301);

• • Food Science, Gastronomy and Life Quality (n = 145);

• • Global Health and Planetary Nutrition (n = 129);

• • Non-communicable Diseases (n = 271);

• • Precision and Clinical Nutrition (n = 177);

• • Public Health and Nutrition throughout Life Cycle (n = 873);

• • The Future of Nutrition Recommendations (n = 175).

Overall, the scale of participation, together with the breadth of the scientific programme, highlights the reach and relevance of IUNS-ICN Paris 2025. Active engagement across oral and poster sessions fostered a dynamic scientific environment and facilitated exchange across disciplines, regions, and research areas, accomplishing major aims of IUNS such as advancement of science, global communication, and integrative networking, including in the field of personalised, population, and planetary nutrition.^{(Reference Martínez-González, Kim, Prakash, Ramos-Lopez, Zotor and Martinez1)}

The following sections of this supplement present selected scientific contributions from the IUNS-ICN Paris 2025, highlighting key advances, emerging research directions, and ongoing discussions within the field of nutrition science. Beyond the role as a forum for scientific exchange, IUNS-ICN Paris 2025 represents a defining moment in the evolution of global nutrition science. In this context, the alignment between the IUNS Task Forces and the Journal of Nutritional Science illustrates an emerging model in which scientific dialogue is rapidly translated into accessible, peer-reviewed evidence.

A global scientific ecosystem

Notably, strong representation from LMICs reinforced the global relevance and diversity of perspectives. This breadth of engagement highlights the increasing complexity of nutrition science and the need for integrative frameworks capable of addressing interconnected biological, environmental, and societal challenges.

Within this evolving ecosystem, IUNS Task Forces are key drivers of coordinated international research. These expert groups are uniquely positioned to address priority areas in nutrition through structured collaboration, generating outputs that bridge scientific evidence, policy relevance, and practical implementation. A notable development is the increasing translation of Task Force activities into peer-reviewed publications in the Journal of Nutritional Science.

IUNS Task Forces (2022–2025): contributions presented at IUNS-ICN Paris:

• • Advancing Personalised and Precision Nutrition ^{(Reference Ramos-Lopez2)}

• • The Multidimensional Index of Child Growth (MICG) of the Task Force “Towards a Multidimensional Approach for Child Growth” of the International Union for Nutritional Sciences ^{(Reference Gonzales Martinez3)}

• • Sustainable Diets: Where From and Where To? ^{(Reference Macheka4)}

• • Developing professional nutrition capacity to advance school health and nutrition in Africa

• • Co-creating a new knowledge-sharing platform on nutrition and cancer for children, teenagers, and young adults

• • Sharing an historical perspective, tools, and ongoing global research to document the importance and value of Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Communities food and nutrition knowledge of food biodiversity to improve food and nutrition security

These contributions – aligned with priority areas such as sustainable diets, food systems transformation, dietary patterns, the double burden of malnutrition, and precision nutrition and food systems – represent a critical step in consolidating global expertise into citable and accessible scientific evidence.^{(Reference Ramos-Lopez2–Reference Macheka4)} Indeed, these publications, together with the selected abstracts, go beyond descriptive analyses by contributing to the field^{(Reference Celis-Morales, Livingstone and Marsaux5–Reference Afshin, Sur and Fay7)} via:

• • advancing integrative conceptual frameworks that incorporate environmental, metabolic, and socio-economic determinants of health

• • supporting basic research and methodological harmonisation in dietary assessment and nutritional epidemiology

• • generating policy-relevant insights aligned with global health and sustainability agendas with a participative, prescriptive, personalised, and preventive perspective

Indeed, this IUNS-ICN Paris 2025 Special Issue acted as an enabling platform for interdisciplinary integration by publishing contributions that span basic science, clinical research, and public health, supporting the convergence of traditionally distinct domains within nutrition science. The Congress themes – ranging from precision nutrition to sustainable food systems – require not only multidisciplinary approaches but also platforms capable of integrating diverse forms of evidence into coherent scientific narratives.^{(Reference Hawkes, Ruel and Salm8)}

A central message emerging from IUNS-ICN Paris 2025 is the need to transition from reductionist models towards systems-based nutrition science. The major challenges facing the field – including obesity, undernutrition, climate change, and food system resilience – are deeply interconnected and cannot be addressed in isolation. Concepts, research, and reviews published around IUNS-ICN Paris 2025 promote this paradigm shift by advancing a systems perspective that links dietary patterns, environmental sustainability, metabolic health, and socio-economic contexts. This approach aligns with broader scientific developments, including the integration of omics technologies, digital health tools, and artificial intelligence in nutrition research.^{(Reference Mozaffarian9,Reference Johnston, Zeraatkar and Han10)} Such advances enable a more nuanced understanding of individual variability while maintaining relevance at the population level – an essential balance for effective public health strategies.^{(11–Reference Delarue13)} The continued collaboration between IUNS and JNS will be essential to ensure that these priorities translate into impactful and widely disseminated scientific contributions. Indeed, social, security, safety, as well as satisfactory/balanced nutrition related to health, wellbeing, and quality of life were accomplished at the 23rd IUNS-ICN 2025.

From IUNS-ICN Paris 2025 to future priorities

IUNS-ICN Paris 2025 marks a transition towards the next cycle of IUNS-ICN 2029 to be held in Vancouver, Canada, with new priorities expected to reflect emerging global challenges. Key directions include the following:

• • strengthening global nutritional data infrastructures and methodological harmonisation;

• • expanding interdisciplinary and trans-sectoral collaboration in the food and nutrition area;

• • enhancing capacity building, particularly in LMICs, around IUNS leadership;

• • promoting open and equitable access to research outputs, including artificial intelligence agents and applications in nutritional sciences.