Editorial

The Depth and Breadth of Nutrition Education "Nutrition education can be effective" is the conclusion

based on a project carried out by the Netherlands Nutrition Council. Other evaluations of programs in India, Cuba, Mexico, the United States, and many other countries show that a wide range of approaches to nutrition education­including mass media, marketing research, health clinics, food supplements, mass feeding, team teaching, and many others-are effective.

The above is based on reports on nutrition education given at the IXth International Congress of Nutrition in Mexico City Sept. 3-9, 1972. More than 200 invited papers in symposia and 700 short communications about the science of nutrition and its applications were presented. A wide range of topics were discussed and nutrition educa­tion was often included. ~be.al:trn~1QJind-1hat nutrition scient:~ts are~lQI~l!li7;~1lIil1JlLeYJll.l1_sJ become invoiYeq_~tlUhe social ill1plic'.l~iQns_QLIJJJlriti9n if malnutrition is to be eradIcated.

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In the section on "Approaches to Practical Solutions," one of four concurrent sections meeting daily throughout the Congress, many of the symposia and short research reports were directly concerned with national food plan­ning and approaclt~U(L!!.uJrjliQnedu~lltiQ..n.

The increa;-of interest in nutrition education since the last Congress was held three years ago was evident. In 1969, there was only one afternoon devoted to rather gen­eral descriptions of several national nutrition education programs. Thiuear there were reports on many specific projects of an innovative nature, and the inter~~lJIJ1Q!l]J~S­ti~ns ~ere kieii~--SOiiit!. of flle-papersgi~~n ~ill appear in future issues of the JournaloCNUTRtrloNEbtfCA­TION'--. ---------- - .... _- - .....

Although it is impossible to share all the highlights of the Congress, I would like to put down some thoughts and impressions of the meeting.

Motivation fQL£h..a~ and improv~JJ}_el!!....:..~ the....Qi_~t cannot be successfully carried out in the. isolationof the "micro" level oT thetamily-unless-tllerejs .fir;t-~~u~~ti~ll · for change at the "macro" level of governmenLpolicies, food-~upply, and pubiic information sources. Nutritionists must educate the planners on the need for a supply of

nutritious food at a national level. "Macro" education is needed in economics, welfare, agriculture, and marketing in any country or community before "micro" education can be effective.

In the past, nutrition educators have tended to use tech­niques from the "educational school" or appeal to the in­tellect to change food attitudes. They have been known to be derogatory toward the "promotional school," which appeals to the emotions to change attitudes. These two ap­proaches must be combined before people can be reached effectively. The effectiveness of th~_ID..QrLllPs,§!!!§.~ .. ~~.:: sage (TV sp~t~)'Yas_grit'phica!lypr~~~Ilte~n 2P.~ .~~~.sion at theQQl1gre .. ss .. Th~.~~cll ;;Ind frequency. of aQtechniq!ie~ are designed to awaken interest a,od mQtiYati_oncI!I~IY media should be used by nutri.tion educlltQ.r§.J2 .. <:!"t?a.!~.inc terest in spec.ificprob1ems. ___

There is a need to understand how the changing ecology of nutrition problems and modern urbanization affects the approaches nutrition education programs should take.

One observation made at the Congress was that women frequently outnumbered men at the nutrition education sessions though the total registration ratio was quite the reverse. Let's hope that the men who more frequently choose the scientific and technical approaches to nutrition and the women who are more often the interpreters of nu­trition can continue to cooperate in nutrition education and work together in many ways to provide adequate supplies of nutritious food and educational programs to promote its consumption by all members of the family for optimal nutrition. Nutrition scientists, food technologists, and nu­trition educators must work together to assure that the food and purohasing power is there and that the knowledge of how to make wise ,choices is availa:ble to everyone.

Finally, the Xth International Congress of Nutrition will be held in Japan in 1975. I strongly hope that representa­tive organizations and groups with interests and purposes similar to those of the Society for Nutrition Bducation could meet together at that meeting to implement methods of action aimed at achieving adequate nutrition throughout the world.

Helen D. Ullrich

Points 01 View

Book Review Ch~"enged The reviews of books and other publi­

cations which appear in the Journal of Nutrition Education are of no value and may serve a distinct disservice to nutri­tion unless your readers have confidence in the quality of the review. I was dis­mayed by the recent review of R. J. Wil­liams' book entitled Nutrition Against Disease which appeared in the Spring issue (Vol. 4, p. 79,1972).

It would not appear that Dr. Brown and I read the same book. You may be interested in the review that I prepared some time ago. I do not believe that Roger Williams' books should be rec­ommended reading.

This book is an elaboration and exten­sion of the arguments presented by Dr. Williams in earlier writings. The thesis is that individuals are different and thus their metabolic machinery is different. They have "biochemical individuality." On the basis of this it is argued that nu­tritional needs of individuals vary widely, that many individuals have much greater nutritional needs than the average, and that the health of many people would be greatly improved if their consumption of the many essential nutrients was much higher than that provided by the usual American diet. The scope of the sup-

VolA, No.4, Fall, 1972

D. Mark Hegsted, Professor of Nutri­tion, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115.

Editor's Note: the following review of Nutrition Against Disease written by Dr. Hegsted was originally published in Medi­cal World News, March 3, 1972. We are grateful for their permission to reprint it.

Journal of NUTRITION EDUCATION I 153

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