Editorial

Citation

Blades, M. (2006), "Editorial", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 36 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2006.01736baa.001

Editorial

Nutrition is always in the news these days but despite this it is amazing that so many people are confused and lack any real understanding of food and nutrition. From training sessions I do and talking about nutrition to various groups and individuals I find so many myths about food and nutrition seem to still abound. These include:

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  You need to eat sugar to get energy.

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  You need lots of protein for health.

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  Stout is the best source of iron.

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  Children need sweets and crisps as treats.

Probably there will always be myths about all sorts of things related to diet and the ones like my mother told me about “eat up your crusts to make your hair curl” (sadly it did not work) will continue.

It is a shame that many of the sayings that I have heard recently are not really ideal for good health so there is a massive agenda for helping people to understand the fundamental of health and nutrition.

The information on the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans (which I have put at the beginning of Food Facts) includes good basic information on a healthy diet, which should be easy to communicate to both individuals and groups. In the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) produces large amounts of information on nutrition, which helps to communicate messages to the public. At present, we have TV advertisements on limiting the amount of salt in the diet from the FSA.

Hopefully all of these messages will gradually pass through to the public who will not only understand them but act on them and some of the untrue myths will pass into history.

Mabel Blades