Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:23:26.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Public('s) nutrition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Micheline Beaudry*
Affiliation:
Département des sciences des aliments et de nutrition, Faculté des sciences de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation, Université Laval, Québec, Canada, G1K 7P4
Hélène Delisle
Affiliation:
WHO Collaborating Centre on Nutrition Changes and Development, Département de nutrition, Faculté de médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objective

To promote the new field of ‘public nutrition’ as a means to address, in a more efficient, sustainable and ethical manner, the world-wide epidemic of malnutrition – undernutrition and specific nutrient deficiencies, and also obesity and other nutrition-related chronic diseases.

Strategy

Grounded in the health promotion model, public nutrition applies the population health strategy to the resolution of nutrition problems. It encompasses ‘public health nutrition’, ‘community nutrition’ and ‘international nutrition’ and extends beyond them. It fits within the conceptual framework of ‘the new nutrition science’ and is an expression of this reformulated science in practice. Its fundamental goal is to fulfil the human right to adequate food and nutrition. It is in the interest of the public, it involves the participation of the public and it calls for partnerships with other relevant sectors beyond health. Public nutrition takes a broader view of nutritional health, addressing the three interrelated determinant categories of food systems and food security; food and health practices; and health systems. It assesses and analyses how these influence the immediate determinants that are dietary intake and health status so as to direct action towards effective progress. To further enhance the relevance and effectiveness of action, public nutrition advocates improved linkages between policies and programmes, research and training. A renewed breed of professionals for dietetics and nutrition, trained along those lines, is suggested.

Conclusion

There is a critical need to develop new knowledge, approaches and skills to meet the pressing nutrition challenges of our times.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2005

References

1The World Health Report 2002. Reducing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2002.Google Scholar
2World Health Organization. World Cancer Report. Geneva: International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2003.Google Scholar
3World Health Organization (WHO). Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. Report of a Joint WHO/ Food and Agriculture Organization Expert Consultation. Technical Report Series No. 916. Geneva: WHO, 2003.Google Scholar
4World Health Organization (WHO). Obesity: Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic. Report of a WHO Consultation. Technical Report Series No. 894. Geneva: WHO, 2000 (reprinted 2004).Google Scholar
5The Giessen Declaration. Public Health Nutrition 2005; 8(6A): 783–6.Google Scholar
6Mason, J, Habicht, J-P, Greaves, P, Jonsson, U, Kevany, J, Martorell, R, et al. Public nutrition. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1996; 63: 399400.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7Scrimshaw, N, ed. Special Issue on Public Nutrition. Food and Nutrition Bulletin 1999; 20(3): 279343.Google Scholar
8 Strategic Policy Directorate. Population Health Template: Key Elements and Actions that Define a Population Health Approach – Draft [online]. Ottawa: Population and Public Health Branch, Health Canada, 2001. Available at http://www. phac-aspc.gc.ca/ph-sp/phdd/pdf/discussion_paper.pdfGoogle Scholar
9Edwards, N. Population health: determinants and interventions. Canadian Journal of Public Health 1999; 90(1): 10–1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Ottawa: World Health Organization, Health and Welfare Canada and Canadian Public Health Association, 17–21 11 1986.Google Scholar
11Latham, MC, Beaudry, M. Globalization and inequity as determinants of malnutrition: a clear need for activism. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 2001; 40(6): 597618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Strategy for Improved Nutrition of Children and Women in Developing Countries. A UNICEF Policy Review. New York: UNICEF, 1990.Google Scholar
13Nestle, M. Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002.Google Scholar
14Lang, T, Heasman, M. Food Wars – The Global Battle for Mouths, Minds and Markets. London: Earthscan, 2004.Google Scholar
15Engle, PL, Bentley, M, Pelto, G. The role of care in nutrition programmes: current research and a research agenda. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 2000; 59(1): 2535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16Achterberg, C, Miller, C. Is one theory better than another in nutrition education? A viewpoint: more is better. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 2004; 36(1): 40–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17Daneault, S, Beaudry, M, Godin, G. Psychosocial determinants of the intention of nurses and dietitians to recommend breastfeeding. Canadian Journal of Public Health 2004; 95(2): 151–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18Delisle, H. Food diversification strategies are neglected in spite of their potential effectiveness: why is it so and what can be done?. In: Brouwer, I, Traoré, A, Tréche, S, eds. Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Food-based Approaches for a Healthy Nutrition in West AfricaOuagadougouPresse Universitaire2004 303–16.Google Scholar
19US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity. Rockville, MD: DHHS, Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General, 2001.Google Scholar
20Tontisirin, K, Winichagoon, K. Community-based pro-grammes: success factors for public nutrition derived from the experience of Thailand. Food and Nutrition Bulletin 1999; 20(3): 315–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21Nissinen, A, Berrios, X, Puska, P. Community-based noncommunicable disease interventions: lessons from developed countries for developing ones. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2001; 79(10): 963–70.Google ScholarPubMed
22Swinburn, B, Gill, T, Kumanyika, S. Obesity prevention: a proposed framework for translating evidence into action. Obesity Reviews 2005; 6(1): 2333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23Delisle, H, Ghadirian, P, Shatenstein, B, Strychar, I. Evidence and implications for research and action: a summary. In: International Workshop on Early Nutrition Influences on Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease 6–9 June 2004Montreal Proceedings Maternal & Child Nutrition 2005; 1(3): 215–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24Solomons, N. Program and policy issues related to promoting positive early nutritional influences to prevent obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease in later life: a developing countries view. In: International Workshop on Early Nutrition Influences on Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease 6–9 June 2004Montreal Proceedings Maternal & Child Nutrition 2005; 1(3): 203–14.Google Scholar
25De Araújo Calado, CL. A expansão dos cursos de nutrição no Brasil e a nova lei de diretrizes e bases – LDB [online]. Conselho Federal de Nutricionistas (CFN), 2003. Available at http://www.cfn.org.br/variavel/destaque/expansao.doc. Accessed July 2005.Google Scholar
26ICDA. Workshop on definitions, education, standards and practice in dietetics. Dietetics Around the World – Newsletter of the International Confederation of Dietetic Associations 2004; 11(2).Google Scholar
27Beaudry, M, Hamelin, A-M, Delisle, H. Public nutrition: an emerging paradigm. Canadian Journal of Public Health 2004; 95(5): 375–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed