ABSTRACT
The scope of food and nutrition science and practice is wide and deep, inclusive of several disciplines and providing opportunities for application in many fields of endeavour. The evidence for action is observational and experimental, and forever subject to challenge and review for its coherence and utility. Predictive models assessed for benefit, risk and cost are underutilised in evidence gathering for food systems and individual and ecosystem health. The nature of nutritional biology and its ecological dependence is one of the most dynamic and conceptually challenging areas of food and nutrition science. A perennial difficulty is the pressure to commodify the perceived characteristics of favourable dietary patterns, often for commercial reasons, and, in the process, lose health-enhancing properties. Biodiversity as a health optimiser is difficult to emulate without its connection to nature, although it can operate in a range of cultural formats as indicated earlier.
