The present study describes the main actions in Finnish nutrition policy during the past decades. The main actor is the National Nutrition Council, which provides nutritional recommendations and action programmes, and sets up expert groups to solve nutritional problems in the population. The main fortification programmes have been the iodization of table salt, supplementation of selenium to fer...

Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) has an evolving nature and during the last decades its theoretical, conceptual, structural, practical and programmatic notions evolved significantly and approaches toward food and nutrition have changed drastically. Now, more than ever before, the issue is considered as a fundamental component of sustainable development globally. For a better grasp of the compl...

In this issue we are pleased to have a contribution that delivers a thoughtful commentary on the disconnection between US agricultural and nutrition policy. In his commentary, Professor Griffin, Director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at Tufts University, describes the context from which current agricultural and nutrition policies emerged and the circumstances that now place t...

BACKGROUND The Department of Health in Western Australia identified access to, and daily consumption of recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables, as priority health determinants. The numerous factors that influence supply and consumption of fruit and vegetables indicated that a comprehensive approach would be required.A government and non-government sector steering group was set up to select...

In the October issue of Childhood Obesity, David Katz called for action on so-called ‘‘kid’’ food and proposed a day of national boycott to focus attention on this issue and bring about change. This roundtable brings together experts in policy, nutrition, and pediatrics to discuss the availability of kid food and the marketing of unhealthy food to children. The panel presents strategies and ide...

Reported are the results of a case study from Kirotshe rural health district, Northern Kivu, Zaire, where a workshop on the causal model approach to nutrition was organized in 1987. The model has since been used in the field for research design, training of health professionals, nutrition intervention, and community development. The rationale behind this approach is reviewed, the experience acc...

OBJECTIVE To examine the present methods used to define nutritional needs, and to analyse the intrinsic limitations of the reductionist chemical, biological and medical approaches to assess requirements. To establish the necessity to incorporate the complexities emerging from a broader understanding of the biological sciences as well as to include environmental and social dimensions in addressi...

OBJECTIVE This study presents an overview of national nutrition action plans in the member states of the European Union (EU), before its enlargement in 2004. In addition, their compliance with key recommendations of the World Health Organization, as documented in the First Action Plan for Food and Nutrition Policy and the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, has tentatively be...

Food Policy, in much of Asia, has been slow to transition from its historic focus on staple grain self-sufficiency to a more integrated approach to nutrition security. Research and policy discussions continue to focus on hunger and calorie deficiency rather than on the need for a balanced diets to address chronic micronutrient malnutrition and the emerging problems of over weight and obesity. S...