NUTRITION, HUMAN

process by which the human body uses food. The scope of human nutrition extends far beyond the classical study of the physiological and biochemical processes involved in nourishment; i.e., how substances in food are converted into energy and body tissues. Human nutrition has come to involve all the effects on humans of any component found in food; these include most chronic degenerative diseases (dental decay, coronary heart disease, some cancers, etc.), which are now major targets of research activity. The scope of nutrition extends to the effects of food on human function; e.g., mental function, athletic performance, resistance to infection, and fetal health and development. There is a growing interaction between nutritional science and genetics because of the diversity of human chemical make-up and because food components of which most people are unaware can have marked effects on some individuals. Last, nutrition also considers why people choose to eat the foods they do, even after they have been advised that doing so may be unhealthy. The study of food habits and people's attitudes, beliefs, likes, and dislikes overlaps with the social sciences of physiology, anthropology, sociology, and economics. Dietetics is the application of nutrition in the health sciences. Additional reading General works Major journals covering general human and animal nutrition include The Journal of Nutrition (monthly); The British Journal of Nutrition (bimonthly); Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews: Series A. Human and Experimental (monthly); Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews: Series B. Livestock Feeds and Feeding (monthly); The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (monthly); European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (monthly); Journal of the American Dietetic Association (monthly); Nutrition Reviews (monthly); and Annual Review of Nutrition. Human metabolism and nutrition General comprehensive information is presented in Great Britain. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, Manual of Nutrition, 8th ed. (1976); Ethel Austin Martin and Ardath Anders Coolidge, Nutrition in Action, 4th ed. (1978); and A. Stewart Truswell et al., ABC of Nutrition (1986), a collection of articles from the British Medical Journal. Nutrition Reviews' Present Knowledge in Nutrition, 5th ed. (1984), is a major text providing broad coverage; as is Davidson and Passmore Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 8th ed., rev. by R. Passmore and M.A. Eastwood (1986). Special topics in human nutrition are studied in Richard B. Lee and Irven DeVore (eds.), Man the Hunter (1969), and Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers: Studies of the !Kung San and Their Neighbors (1976), in which see especially A. Stewart Truswell and J.D.L. Hansen, Medical Research Among the !Kung. See also M. Isabel Irwin et al., Nutritional Requirements of Man: A Conspectus of Research (1980); Samuel J. Fomon, Infant Nutrition, 2nd ed. (1974); Derrick B. Jelliffe and E.F. Patrice Jelliffe, Human Milk in the Modern World: Psychosocial, Nutritional, and Economic Significance (1978); and Martha L. Hutchinson and Hamish N. Munro (eds.), Nutrition and Aging (1986). Foods The composition and nutritional value of foods, in tabular form, are presented in McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 4th rev. ed., edited by A.A. Paul and D.A.T. Southgate (1978); and in many issues of the Agriculture Handbook (irregular), published by the United States Department of Agriculture. Nutrition recommendations Recommended dietary allowances are studied in World Health Organization, Energy and Protein Requirements: Report (1985); A. Stewart Truswell, Recommended Dietary Intakes Around the World, Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews, 53(11):9401015 (November 1983), and 53(12):10751119 (December 1983); and National Research Council (U.S.), Recommended Dietary Allowances, 9th rev. ed. (1980). See also Anthony R. Leeds (ed.), Dietary Fibre Perspectives: Reviews and Bibliography (1985); Lawrence J. Machlin (ed.), Handbook of Vitamins: Nutritional, Biochemical, and Clinical Aspects (1984); and Artemis P. Simopoulos (ed.), Diet and Health: Scientific Concepts and Principles, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Supplement, vol. 45, no. 5 (May 1987). A. Stewart Truswell