http://www.ecoliteracy.

org/essays/new-era-nutrition-education This group was brought together as a result of a state law, enacted in 2005, mandating content standards in the curriculum area of health education. The task at hand was to create standards defining "what a student should know and be able to do" as result of a quality health education program. The group set a goal to develop a cutting-edge document that addresses the needs of schools in the twentyfirst century. There was certain agreement among this group of health experts that nutrition was a critical content area to be included in health education standards. However, the group process of establishing performance indicators reinforced my belief that the content area of "nutrition" needs some careful thought and redefinition. Current California State Education Code specifies that nutrition education content in the health curriculum should be designed to help students learn the following: Nutritional knowledge, including but not limited to, the benefits of healthy eating, essential nutrients, nutritional deficiencies, principles of healthy weight management, the use and misuse of dietary supplements, and safe food preparation, handling, and storage. Nutrition-related skills, including, but not limited to, planning a healthy meal, understanding and using food labels, and critically evaluating nutrition information, misinformation, and commercial food advertising. How to assess their own personal eating habits, set goals for improvement, and achieve those goals by using the Food Guide Pyramid, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Nutrition Fact Labels, and the Physical Activity Pyramid. I believe it is time to articulate a new philosophy of nutrition education, one that reflects the urgency and critical need to inform our children about the impact of their food choices on their personal health, the health of our society, and the future of our planet. An argument in favor of a new era for nutrition education is also supported by a diverse international group of scholars and experts in food and nutrition working on a project entitled "New Nutrition Science." This group unanimously agreed that now is the time to add social and environmental dimensions to the definition and practice of nutrition science, while preserving all that is basic and vital in the biological dimension of the classic nutritional sciences. Nutrition as a biological science was developed by Justus von Liebig at the University of Giessen, Germany in the mid-nineteenth century. In 2001, a series of international meetings began to re-explore the philosophy of nutrition. These scholarly gatherings led to the adoption in 2005 of the Giessen Declaration. It recommends a redefinition of nutrition that moves beyond nineteenth-century priorities such as industrial expansion to the priorities and principles of the twenty-first century, including conservation and preservation. The Giessen Declaration supports the work of many in embracing a new and more holistic view of the interdependent, complex, processes involved in human dietary patterns. Such a view of nutrition takes

an integrative systems approach to connecting individual understanding, motivation, and skills with ecological factors such as culture and physical environment, as compounded by additional impacts from related public policies that shape food systems and supplies. The Giessen Declaration (1) includes the following principles: Nutrition science needs to incorporate a comprehensive understanding of food systems. These shape and are shaped by biological, social, and environmental relationships and interactions. How food is grown, processed, distributed, sold, prepared, cooked, and consumed is crucial to its quality and nature, and to its effect on well-being and health, society, and the environment. In the twentieth century, food production was transformed by heavy farm machinery and industrial chemistry, and now perhaps also will be by biotechnology. Food processing, including refrigeration, has enabled the supply of a wide range of foods across seasons and continents. Food manufacturing, retailing, and distribution are now increasingly concentrated in fewer hands. Traditional cuisines are being replaced by new eating patterns framed by new technologies, ways of living, and economic structures. Nutrition science can and should engage with the development of technologies and with their impact on food systems. These profoundly affect the relationship between food and the health of people, populations, and the planet, and will continue to do so. These are additional reasons why it is time to reformulate nutrition science to include social and environmental as well as biological dimensions.... The overall principles that should guide nutrition science are ethical in nature. Its principles should also be guided by the philosophies of co-responsibility and sustainability, by the life-course and human rights approaches, and by understanding of evolution, history, and ecology. During the development of this project, Mark Wahlqvist, the president of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences, stated that "the new nutrition science has a context of a new world for all of the sciences, which themselves are on the threshold of momentous change.Science will be required to acknowledge its social responsibility and its duty to work and act in the best interests of all people and of the planet as a whole." As a member of the California Health Education Standards Advisory Panel, I submitted the following definition of nutrition science, as stated in the Giessen Declaration, and requested that it be incorporated into the list of definitions that will be included in the Health Education Standards document: Nutrition science is defined as the study of food systems, foods and drinks and their nutrients, and other constituents; and of their interactions within and between all relevant biological, social, and environmental systems. The purpose of nutrition science is to contribute to a world in which present and future generations fulfill their human potential, live in the best of health, and develop, sustain, and enjoy an increasingly diverse human, living, and physical environment.

Nutrition science should be the basis for food and nutrition policies. These should be designed to identify, create, conserve, and protect rational, sustainable, and equitable communal, national, and global food systems in order to sustain the health, well-being, and integrity of humankind, and of the living and physical worlds. The Center for Ecoliteracys Rethinking School Lunch program and curricula are leading the way in actualizing the new nutrition science vision and lofty ideals. It is time to join together, with a sense of urgency, to shape the legislation, policies, and actions that will infuse this message into the mainstream educational system.

Nutrition education is important in order to create awareness and nutrition sense among people. It also provides us with professionals who can cure various illnesses and problems we face and ensure healthy living. awareness and nutrition sense among people. It also provides us with professionals who can cure various illnesses and problems we face and ensure healthy living.

What Makes Nutrition Education Programs Effective

Children tend to eat foods because they like them and to refuse foods they dont like (or think they wont like). So what leads us to eat some foods and not others? Scientists who study these things have identified four major influences on food choices:

Biological factors some interesting research is looking at whether the foods that mothers eat while pregnant program children to prefer those foods as they get older. And about 25 percent of the population carries a gene that makes certain tastes such as bitter unbearable. While this presents a challenge when trying to get some children to eat bitter vegetablesusually the green onessensitivity to bitterness does lessen somewhat as people get older. Experience with food in a social context. While we are born with certain taste preferences, choosing what to eat and how to eat it is a learned behavior. Children overcome their fears of new foods through repeated exposures in the company of family members or other supportive adults. Generally speaking, children require 10 to 15 exposures to a new food before they find it acceptable to eat. Older children and adults can also learn to enjoy new foods over time. Personal factors including knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, skills, and the influence of families and friends. Environmental factors such as the availability, accessibility, and affordability of food items, eating locations, the social environment and cultural food practices, and food advertising.

Given the many influences on food choices, it isnt surprising that nutrition education programs aimed solely at increasing individuals knowledge have failed to help children and adults adopt healthier eating behaviors. Nutrition education experts now agree that effective nutrition education programs include1:

a focus on specific behaviors (e.g., shopping for vegetables using WIC benefits), rather than knowledge (e.g., food sources of vitamins) active participation on the part of the learners taking into account the motivations, needs, interests, perceptions, and desires of particular population groups self-assessment and feedback

addressing change at both the individual and environmental levels.

Additional characteristics of effective adolescent and child nutrition education programs in K-12 schoolbased settings include2:

sufficient time and intensity of the intervention (50 hours of nutrition education is considered the minimum necessary to effect behavior change) coherent and clearly focused curricula family involvement professional development for staff (support from school administrators and teacher training both positively impact nutrition education efforts in schools). Motivations for diet-related behavior changes differ by a childs stage of cognitive development. The food choices of preschool and young elementary school children are driven by food preferences and availability. Nutrition education programs for these children should focus on helping children become familiar with healthy foods, for example through taste tests, and ensuring that families and schools offer these foods to the children. Older children find motivation in the influence of their peers, being able to set goals, having a sense of autonomy and competence, and their interest in health outcomes.

All of the federal nutrition assistance programs include efforts to promote healthy eating and active lifestyles. The Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) in USDA provides guidance, resources, and funding to State agencies for administering quality nutrition education programs. Much of the focus of USDA nutrition education is directed toward mothers (WIC) and children (school or care-based programs).

Nutrition education in WIC has two broad goals: (1) to emphasize the relationship between nutrition, physical activity, and health, especially for pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children under age 5, and (2) to assist women and children at nutritional risk to improve their health status by making changes in dietary and physical activity habits. Breastfeeding promotion is integral to the WIC program and has received significant funding for initiatives including the development of peer counseling and training and technical assistance for WIC staff. The WIC Works Resource System provides online training, guidance, and resources for all areas of WIC nutrition education programming.

Team Nutrition is the USDA nutrition education initiative for child nutrition programs, comprising foodservice training and technical assistance, nutrition education programs for children and their caregivers and childcare providers, and support for school and community wellness activities. Additional USDA resources to promote healthy eating and physical activity are available through the Healthy Meals Resource System and National Food Service Management Institute. Studies have shown that children are unlikely to accept healthier school meals in the absence of nutrition education coordinated with the menu changes.

Defn :
Nutrition Education is any combination of educational strategies, accompanied by environmental supports, designed to facilitate voluntary adoption of food choices and other food- and nutrition-related behaviors conducive to health and well-being. Nutrition education is delivered through multiple venues and involves activities at the individual, community, and policy levels. This definition has been adopted by the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior and was authored by Dr. Isobel Contento, a leading authority in nutrition education. The work of nutrition educators takes

place in colleges, universities and schools, government agencies, cooperative extension, communications and public relations firms, the food industry, voluntary and service organizations and with other reliable places of nutrition and health education information. Examples of government agencies that incorporate nutrition education into their programs, include: Let's Move, launched by First Lady Michelle Obama in February 2010, through the Healthier US School Challenge; USDA Food and Nutrition Service, which provides nutrition education materials to children and adults of all ages and nutrition education to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants and applicants; USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the cooperative extension program; and MyPyramid.gov, through the Ten Tips Nutrition Education Series.

The importance of nutrition education

Many studies have shown that eating habits are established early in the life cycle and tend to carry through to adulthood. As a result, the food that children eat now will undoubtedly influence their state of health in later life. Making informed food choices is an integral part of a childs normal growth and development. Many studies have shown that healthy eating habits developed early in life will encourage healthy eating as an adult. The link between diet and chronic disease has long been recognised and, as a result, nutrition education has become a necessary and important part of Personal Development, Health and Physical Education. Although most Australian children have access to an adequate food supply there are concerns about the balance and adequacy of their overall food intake (this may be applied to issues of both over and under nutrition). In addition, the huge range of foods that we have available here in Australia makes it very difficult for people to make informed food choices. Diseases related to inactivity and over consumption of food are estimated to cost the health care system approximately $830 million a year. They include some Cancers, Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus. In addition to these, obesity has reached epidemic proportions throughout the western world. In Australian adults, the prevalence of obesity and overweight is rapidly increasing. It has been estimated that 20% - 25% of Australian children are either overweight or obese and that between 1985 and 1997, the number of school children who are obese had increased 3-fold

while those overweight had doubled. These alarming figures clearly demonstrate that reducing the prevalence of these conditions in children is an important public health priority. However, it must also be emphasised that Nutritionists/Dietitians, other health workers and teachers need to tread this path with care. The development of healthy (and realistic) body images and perceptions is an important part of an individuals transition from childhood to adolescence. Unfortunately, dieting and concerns about weight are common place and have become an 'accepted feature of life for many young Australians (especially girls). As a result, initiatives to reduce obesity should acknowledge the research that has been conducted in this area or risk promoting the unnecessary pursuit of thinness by young people.
http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/primary/pdhpe/phc/nut002.htm

Nutrition, nourishment, or aliment, is the supply of materials - food - required by organisms and cells to stay alive. In science and human medicine, nutrition is the science or practice of consuming and utilizing foods. In hospitals, nutrition may refer to the food requirements of patients, including nutritional solutions delivered via an IV (intravenous) or IG (intragastric) tube. Nutritional science studies how the body breaks food down (catabolism) and repairs and creates cells and tissue (anabolism) - catabolism and anabolism = metabolism. Nutritional science also examines how the body responds to food.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/160774.php

Our Nutrition Education Philosophy

Children are best educated about nutrition when experiencing playful and low pressure handson food activities and taste tests. Exposing a child to a wide variety of food will expand taste preferences, which ultimately improves nutrition.

A childs views on food are shaped early and fun-filled food exploration can help reshape and expand them. A parents attitude about food and approach during mealtime either encourages or discourages a childs desire to taste new food. Children develop an interest in healthy food when parents involve them in grocery shopping and food preparation. Parents who model healthy eating have children with healthy eating habits.

Our Food Philosophy

Eating seasonally enables food to be enjoyed at the peak of its natural harvest time when its ripe and fresh. All foods have nutritional value but foods in their whole and unprocessed form are superior to processed counterparts. Assigning labels to food like good, bad or unhealthy detracts from its taste, smell, texture and enjoyment. All foods can fit into a healthy diet but fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, lean protein and dairy fit best. Some food choices can be made based solely on the pleasure the food provides not its nutrient profile. Buy organic food when possible because it is better for the environment and our food system, not because it is always nutritionally superior.

Nutrition education in U.S. medical schools: latest update of a national survey. Adams KM, Kohlmeier M, Zeisel SH. Source

Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 275997461, USA. kadams@unc.edu Abstract PURPOSE: To quantify the number of required hours of nutrition education at U.S. medical schools and the types of courses in which the instruction was offered, and to compare these results with results from previous surveys. METHOD: The authors distributed to all 127 accredited U.S. medical schools (that were matriculating students at the time of this study) a two-page online survey devised by the Nutrition in Medicine Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From August 2008 through July 2009, the authors asked their contacts, most of whom were nutrition educators, to report the nutrition contact hours that were required for their medical students and whether those actual hours of nutrition education occurred in a designated nutrition course, within another course, or during clinical rotations. RESULTS: Respondents from 109 (86%) of the targeted medical schools completed some part of the survey. Most schools (103/109) required some form of nutrition education. Of the 105 schools answering questions about courses and contact hours, only 26 (25%) required a dedicated nutrition course; in 2004, 32 (30%) of 106 schools did. Overall, medical students received 19.6 contact hours of nutrition instruction during their medical school careers (range: 0-70 hours); the average in 2004 was 22.3 hours. Only 28 (27%) of the 105 schools met the minimum 25 required hours set by the National Academy of Sciences; in 2004, 40 (38%) of 104 schools did so. CONCLUSIONS: The amount of nutrition education that medical students receive continues to be inadequate.

Is nutrition education necessary?

Nutrition is very important and can lead to bad or good health. I think it should be mandatory to have a course in nutrition in all schools. You can not put a price on health and the ore people know about nutrition the better off they will be in life.

Yes, Nutrition Should Be a Mandatory Course

Nutrition should be a mandatory course because people need to learn about which foods are good for the body and which foods are not. In particular, they need to also be aware that healthy foods do not have to be lacking in taste. The sooner kids are exposed to good nutritional habits, the better.