Public health nutrition's time has come

Abstract

The present chapter brings together the principal aspects of Public Health Nutrition and includes the analysis of public policies oriented towards the field of nutrition, which constitutes one of the central areas of work for nutritionists An introduction to the contextual framework is described, with special mention of food security and the evolution of nutritional research that sustains the evidence base for Public Health Nutrition The relevance of the current situation that nutrition and public health finds itself is also mentioned, not so much in terms of professional development but rather and more importantly, for the need to develop effective policies in the complex scenario of global nutrition, where obesity and undernutrition converge in a transition without rhyme or reason The Mediterranean Diet is illustrated as an ideal dietary model, which however is not exempt from problems linked to the inequity and inequality of accessing the foods that it comprises Finally, the evolution of nutritional epidemiology is described along with the future of nutrition research, which is at a critical moment for the development of Public Health Nutrition The first World Congress on Public Health Nutrition held in Barcelona last September 2006 perfectly illustrated this scenario