Using research on the obesity pandemic as a guide to a unified vision of nutrition

Abstract

Objective: To focus on factors that play a major role in our rapid, global nutritional changes.

Design: A range of studies are summarised: these show how an understanding of social, economic and technological change at the global, national and community levels affects diet, activity, and body composition patterns and trends. These studies are used to demonstrate the value of the key global, national, community, household and individual factors that should define the field of nutrition.

Setting: The focus is global.

Result: Large shifts have occurred in diet and in physical activity patterns--particularly in the last one or two decades of the twentieth century. These changes are reflected in nutritional outcomes such as changes in average stature, body composition and morbidity. Understanding the rapidity of these changes and the underlying factors at the global, national and community levels is critical for creating a science of nutrition that can prevent disease and sustain the health and integrity of humans.

Conclusion: The vision of the nutrition field is one where scholars who work on many levels will intersect; equal weight in the nutrition profession will be provided to all dimensions as they are welcomed into the field of nutrition--particularly those that will directly or indirectly affect dietary patterns, physical activity patterns, and energetics. This vision of the nutrition field is one where scholars from a range of disciplines and perspectives meet to work together with the goal being a focus on improving nutritional status and the human condition.