Food and Public Health

Book excerpt: A new introduction to public health's most elemental topic Food is baked in to most things that public health is and does. But for a field charged with carrying torches as divergent as anti-hunger and anti-obesity, it's unlikely, even impossible, to shape a unified approach to complex concepts like food environment, food access, or even nutrition. Food and Public Health offers a contextualized, accessible introduction to understanding the foundations (and contradictions) at the intersection of these two topics. It distills the historical, political, sociological, and scientific factors influencing what we eat and where our food comes from, then offers actionable insights for future nutritionists, social workers, dietitians, and researchers in public health. Guiding the reader through more than a century of food-focused regulation, policy, and education, Food and Public Health is an essential introduction to: · food production and availability on a global and neighborhood scale · dietary guidelines, agricultural subsidies, rationing, and other attempts by governments to shape their citizens' diets · best practices in health promotion and chronic disease prevention · food insecurity and its paradoxical role as driver of both hunger and obesity Enriched with real-world examples and case studies, Food and Public Health offers a crucial link between kitchen tables and populations for the classroom.