The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Academic journal

Academic journal

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition[1]Discipline| Nutrition and dietetics[2]

|

Language| English
Edited by| Christopher P Duggan[3]
Publication details

Former name(s)

Journal of Clinical Nutrition

History| 1952–present[4]
Publisher|

American Society for Nutrition[4] (United States)

Frequency| Monthly

Impact factor

| 7.045 (2021)
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4 (alt) * Bluebook (alt)
NLM (alt) * MathSciNet (alt )
ISO 4| Am. J. Clin. Nutr.
Indexing
CODEN (alt * alt2) * JSTOR (alt) * LCCN (alt)
MIAR * NLM (alt) * Scopus
CODEN| AJCNAC
ISSN| 0002-9165 (print)
1938-3207 (web)

LCCN| 56032466
OCLC no.| 01480127
Links

* Journal homepage
* Online access
* Online archive

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) is a monthly peer-reviewed biomedical journal in the fields of dietetics and clinical nutrition.[5]

The journal was established in 1952 as the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, edited by S.O. Waife and published by the Nutrition Press.[6] It was continued in series under the present title from 1954 and was published by the American Society for Clinical Nutrition (ASCN).[7] It is now published by the American Society for Nutrition.[8] The journal's editor-in-chief is Christopher P Duggan[9] of Harvard Medical School.[9]

A poll conducted in 2009 by the Biomedical and Life Sciences Division of the Special Libraries Association identified the journal as among the "100 most influential journals ... over the last 100 years" in the fields of biology and medicine.[8] According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2021 impact factor of 7.045.[10]

## Criticism and controversy

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### Conflicts of interest

[edit]

Marion Nestle voiced concerns in November 2013 about conflict of interest by the AJCN board. Nestle stated that of the twelve-member editorial board "the majority — 7 of the 12 — list major corporate affiliations. The list of food companies for which they consult or advise ... includes Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, The Sugar Association, The National Restaurant Association, ConAgra, McDonald's, Kellogg, Mars, and many others."[11][12]

Most of these, and various other major companies and corporations in the food industry, or their surrogates, are among those listed in the "Conflict of Interest Statements for The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Editors," published by their affiliate, Oxford University Press.[13][14]

In a 2015 report, Michele Simon also voiced concerns regarding corporate involvement with the American Society for Nutrition's journals.[15]

The journal publicly lists the conflicts of interest of its editorial board on its website.[16] In 2007, they published an article outlining their conflict of interest policy.[17]

Nestle subsequently found widespread examples of apparent conflicts of interest resulting in apparently distorted studies published in various major journals of nutrition, including in the AJCN.[18]

### Criticism of content

[edit]

In a February 2022 letter published in AJCN, seven co-authors of the Endocrine Society's 2017 scientific statement on the causes of obesity[19] criticized[20] a December 2021 AJCN article[21] that they said had "several... statements" that were "misleading and factually incorrect," "mischaracterizing... the main thrust" of the Society's position that "views obesity as a complex disorder" -- instead falsely characterizing the Society's statement as simply asserting that obesity only depends upon "more calories [being] consumed than expended."[20]

The letter's authors pointed to the AJCN's article as triggering false reporting in the media that "Overeating is not... the primary cause of obesity."[20] The AJCN article was so quoted in media in the scientific[22][23] and medical communities,[24][25][26] business media,[27] and popular media, in the United States[28][29] and abroad.[30][25][31]

## References

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1. ^ "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition | Oxford Academic". OUP Academic. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
2. ^ "About". Oxford Academic. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
3. ^ "Editorial Board". Oxford Academic. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
4. ^ a b "Publications". American Society for Nutrition. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
5. ^ "About the Journal". Archived from the original on March 8, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
6. ^ Issue 1, front matter
7. ^ Catalog entry at the National Library of Medicine.
8. ^ a b "Top 100 Journals in Biology and Medicine". SLA Biomedical and Life Sciences Division. April 2009. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
9. ^ a b "Meet the Editors". Oxford Academic. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
10. ^ "Highly Cited Articles from the ASN Journals". Oxford Academic. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
11. ^ Nestle, Marion (June 23, 2015). "Conflicts of interest in nutrition societies: American Society of Nutrition". Marion Nestle. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
12. ^ Nestle, Marion (June 23, 2015). "The food industry's undue influence on the American Society for Nutrition". Marion Nestle. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
13. ^ "Conflict of Interest Statements for The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Editors," retrieved September 18, 2024
14. ^ "Conflict of Interest Statements for The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Editors," retrieved September 18, 2024
15. ^ Simon, Michele (September 2015). "Nutrition Scientists on the Take from Big Food" (PDF). EatDrink Politics. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
16. ^ "Editorial Board | the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition | Oxford Academic".
17. ^ "Conflict of interest policy for Editors of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," July 2007, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 86(1):3-4. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/86.1.3., also at: [1], retrieved September 18, 2024
18. ^ Belluz, Julia: "Food companies distort nutrition science. Here's how to stop them," April 21, 2016, Vox, retrieved September 18, 2024
19. ^ "Obesity Pathogenesis: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement," August 2017, Endocrine Reviews, Volume 38, Issue 4, Pages 267–296, https://doi.org/10.1210/er.2017-00111, retrieved September 17, 2024
20. ^ a b c Drewnowski, Adam, et. al.: letter: "Misleading or factually incorrect statements in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Perspectives article by Ludwig et al," February 2022, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 115(2): 591–592. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqab384, retrieved September 17, 2024; also at NCBI at [2], and at Science Direct at:[3]
21. ^ Ludwig, David S., et. al.: "The carbohydrate-insulin model: a physiological perspective on the obesity pandemic," December 2021, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Volume 114, Issue 6, pp.1873-1885, retrieved September 17, 2024; also at PubMed at:[4]
22. ^ "Scientists claim that overeating is not the primary cause of obesity," September 13, 2021, Science News, retrieved September 17, 2024
23. ^ "Scientists Claim Overeating Is Not the Primary Cause of Obesity – Point to More Effective Weight Loss Strategies," September 13, 2021, SciTechDaily, retrieved September 17, 2024
24. ^ "Overeating may not be the primary cause of obesity," December 3, 2021, Medical News Bulletin, retrieved September 17, 2024
25. ^ a b "Obesity Not Linked to Overeating," September 13 2021, Medindia, retrieved September 17, 2024
26. ^ "Overeating is not the primary cause of obesity," updated September 17, 2021, Bariatric News, retrieved September 17, 2024
27. ^ "Overeating may not be the main cause of your obesity. Here's why," October 6, 2021, The Economic Times, retrieved September 17, 2024
28. ^ "The calories in, calories out concept is 'tragically flawed,' new research suggests," September 20, 2021, Today, NBC-TV, retrieved September 17, 2024
29. ^ "Scientists Say Weight Gain is Caused by What You Eat, Not How Much," September 20, 2021, Men's Health, retrieved September 17, 2024
30. ^ "Overeating 'not the primary cause of obesity', claim scientists," September 13, 2021, Sky News (U.K.), retrieved September 17, 2024
31. ^ "Overeating isn’t primary cause of obesity," September 29, 2021, The Independent of Uganda, retrieved September 17, 2024