Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
7
PLENTIFUL FOOD?
NUTRITIOUS FOOD?
Colin D. Butler and Jane Dixon
Positive health requires a knowledge of man's primary constitution and of the
powers of various foods, both those natural to them and those resulting from hu-
man skill. But eating alone is not enough for health. There must also be exer-
cise, of whih the efects must likewise be known. he combination of these two
things makes regimen, when proper atention is given to the season of the year,
the hanges of the winds, the age of the individual and the situation of his home.
If there is any deiciency in food or exercise the body will fall sik.
Hippocrates, 5th Century BC
Ecology, evolution and the determinants of nutrition
he main purpose of this hapter is to present an argument for a greater understand-
ing of the ecological factors that influence global nutrition in the past, present and
future. he hapter begins by proposing that excellent nutrition in the present era re-
quires more than the minimum quantities of calories, protein, and the known vitam-
ins to maintain a desirable body-mass index, physical strength and cognitive capacity.
While these components may be satisfactory for reasonable health, the best nutrition-
al foundation for excellent health requires a complement of less well understood in-
teractions between individual genetic dispositions and behaviours and food ingredi-
ents that derive from ecosystem resources.
his hapter argues that, even for aluent populations, excellent diets are elusive
for four main reasons. First, the majority of the world's population exists in a milieu
in whih staple foods have altered enormously from those with whih our ancestors
evolved, so that previously low-fat protein foods, for example, now deliver unneces-
sary energy. Second, the bio-cultural disposition to feasting is taking place in the con-
