ABSTRACT
Like history, nutrition is a multi-faceted field, so exploring the ‘history of nutrition’ can lead in many directions. ‘Nutrition’ covers a very wide subject area, from sociology to molecular biology, and similarly, ‘nutrition scientist’ can embrace a remarkably wide range of people. The membership of the Nutrition Society (founded 1941), has included, for example, chemists, biochemists, physiologists, medical and veterinary practitioners, agricultural scientists, food scientists, dietitians, sociologists, psychologists and administrators, as well as ‘nutritionists’. Nutrition is also an area in which many wider interests intersect: the implications of nutritional research potentially impinge, not only upon the practices of doctors, dietitians and veterinary practitioners, but also upon the policies of central and local government, the agricultural, food and pharmaceutical industries, and the domestic habits of the population. In addition, there are few members of the general public who are not prepared to express an opinion on matters of nutrition. ‘Nutrition experts’ abound, and nutrition scientists face more acute problems than many other scientists in establishing their expertise. During the course of the twentieth century, those engaged in the production of scientific nutritional knowledge have adopted various strategies either to maximise the impact of their activities upon society, or to distance themselves from policy matters. Nutrition has been at the core of single-issue pressure groups and such concerns have been taken up by a variety of movements with wide-ranging ideological commitments. ‘Nutrition’ has frequently been a matter for political and public debate.
