Nutritional Science in Global Perspective

Abstract

I’ve been asked to talk about nutrition in a global context, but I don’t intend to give a talk about comparative geographical nutrition. What I’d like to do following the spirit of these symposia is to talk about nutrition in the context of the social and anthropological world. And I want to address some questions and ask why some people hear food messages — we know from measurements of response, that people hear food messages, but do not act on them. Why do some people fear some foods (and we saw a list of peoples fears about food)? Why do they not believe or accept or act on professional advice? And why do they express so much concern about food safety and purity when it is obvious from the statistics of longevity and health in the western world that food is safer and purer than it has ever been. We have some serious questions to address here, because those questions are having major effects on policy. And I think we have to think about three specific things: We have to think first of all about the role of food in our lives. And I want to dwell on that for some while. We need to think about communicating about food. We need to think about the position of science in a post-modern society. I think unless we address those three questions we aren’t likely to get very far.