Opportunities in the Nutrition and Food Sciences Research Challenges and the Next Generation of Investigators (1994) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Pages 1-14
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
This report describes how the nutrition and food sciences have advanced enormously in this century and contributed to the development of an abundant, health-promoting food supply and better health for people around the worlds We malice the case that the nutrition and food sciences will continue to advance, providing even greater health benefits to the nation, as long as research is supported adequately and highly qualified students are attracted to these disciplines and trained to become outstanding investigators and practitioners in settings that range from laboratories to communities. Nutrition is involved to some extent in almost all of the processes of human life.
|
From page 2... ...
Improving the food supply will make it easier for many more people to meet current dietary guidelines and enable this country to increase its export of processed food products. A PRESIDENTIAL INITIATIVE FOR THE NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCES This is a propitious time for developing a mechanism to bring greater attention to the nutrition and food sciences.
|
From page 3... ...
Most important, it led to actions that continue today, including expanded food assistance programs and nutrition education efforts, nutrition labeling of foods, and better efforts to monitor nutritional status. We urge the administration to hold a second White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health perhaps in 1994, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first conference to assess progress over this time period, examine the future of the nutrition and food sciences and their role in maintaining health and preventing and treating disease, iclentify means of providing additional resources to these disciplines, and improve the use of available resources.
|
From page 4... ...
Current research is showing how nutritional quality at critical points throughout the life cycle from pregnancy, lactation, and childhood to old age profoundly affects development and risk of disease. Optimizing growth, develc~ment, resistance to disease, and longevity requires more information on the interactions among nutrients and other biologically active constituents in food, since these relationships affect the absorption, bioavailability, and functions of these important dietary components In the body.
|
From page 5... ...
Improving Food and Nutrition Policies Research to improve our knowledge of current dietary patterns and the individual and social forces that influence eating habits is vital if we are to develop effective public policies that wfl! improve eating habits in this country.
|
From page 6... ...
Targeted interventions are still needed to improve dietary patterns in this country, reduce inequities in access to food, and provide food assistance to individuals in need. However, for these interventions to be more successful than they currently are, they must be designed with a sophisticated unclerstancling of diet-related and social behaviors.
|
From page 7... ...
Education and Training Success as a scientific investigator in the nutrition and food sciences requires graduate education, usually at the doctoral and frequently at the postdoctoral level. Current institutional infrastructures should be examined as these disciplines advance to meet the research challenges identified in this report.
|
From page 8... ...
Both disciplines benefit from this credentiating or approval process, but meeting the requirements outlined by these professional associations makes clemancis on departmental curricular resources and can limit student clevelopment. We recommend that departments take the initiative and clevelop, in cooperation with the appropriate professional societies, a credentialing and approval process that is fully congruent with future opportunities in the nutrition and food sciences, clearly allied to the rapid advancements in knowledge and technology, and increasingly competitive in attracting bright undergraduates who wish to pursue advanced degrees.
|
From page 9... ...
(It is worth noting that the number of doctorates awarded in the nutrition and food sciences is only about 3.7 percent of the number awarded in the life sciences.) We recommend a new national combined pre- and postdoctoral awards program to provide more flexible and comprehensive training support for nutrition and food scientists.
|
From page 10... ...
198S, declined for two years, then increased somewhat in FY 1991, indicating overall that investments in nutrition and food science research are not keeping place with inflation. National Institutes of Health NIH leads all federal agencies in financial support of nutrition research and training, contributing about three-quarters of total federal expenditures in these areas.
|
From page 11... ...
First, more nutrition and food scientists should be members of NSF advisory panels that review research grant applications. NSF would then be likely to support more basic food science and food engineering research as well as basic behavioral research related to food intake patterns and other sociocultural determinants of food behavior.
|
From page 12... ...
Private, Nonprofit Organizations Foundations such as the Pew Charitable Trusts and voluntary health agencies like the American Heart Association have made limited but important contributions to research in the nutrition and food sciences, particularly in strengthening university research programs. We encourage these sources to continue their support and hope that more foundations of the food industry and those with a public-health orientation begin to support these disciplines.
|
From page 13... ...
The heightened federal effort to study and combat global warming came in large measure as a result of coordinated efforts by individual scientists and their professional societies, who insisted on, and proved the need for, greater government participation. Today's nutrition and food science communities hold the future of these disciplines in their collective hands.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.