The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

During the past decade, tremendous growth has occurred in the use of nutrition symbols and rating systems designed to summarize key nutritional aspects and characteristics of food products. These symbols and the systems that underlie them have become known as front-of-package (FOP) nutrition rating systems and symbols, even though the symbols themselves can be found anywhere on the front of a food package or on a retail shelf tag. Though not regulated and inconsistent in format, content, and criteria, FOP systems and symbols have the potential to provide useful guidance to consumers as well as maximize effectiveness. As a result, Congress directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to undertake a study with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to examine and provide recommendations regarding FOP nutrition rating systems and symbols. The study was completed in two phases. Phase I focused primarily on the nutrition criteria underlying FOP systems. Phase II builds on the results of Phase I while focusing on aspects related to consumer understanding and behavior related to the development of a standardized FOP system. Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols focuses on Phase II of the study. The report addresses the potential benefits of a single, standardized front-label food guidance system regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, assesses which icons are most effective with consumer audiences, and considers the systems/icons that best promote health and how to maximize their use.

A ground breaking text in the developing field of public health nutrition.' from the foreword by Basil S. Hetzel At last! A book that approaches public health nutrition in a scholarly, scientific and evidence based manner that at the same time delivers the practical competencies and skills required by the professional Public Health Nutritionist.' Elizabeth Belton, Senior Lecturer, School of Life Sciences, The Robert Gordon University. How can the nutritional health of populations be improved through action at local, national and global levels? The work of public health nutritionists is to bring population-wide perspectives to the relationship between food and health. Systematically drawing on international research, in Public Health Nutrition leading international practitioners present both the theoretical underpinnings and applied nature of the field of public health nutrition. The book is peer reviewed and divided into four sections: * Principles - presents conceptual frameworks, solutions, responsibilities and outcome measures, philosophical and evidential dimensions, standards and dietary guidelines. * Populations - explores groups for whom nutrition is especially relevant, providing analysis of the food and health relationship from physiological, social, cultural, political and economic perspectives. * Priorities - examines key issues including vulnerable populations, obesity, indigenous nutrition, international nutrition, the nutritional transition, food system trends and sustainability. * Practices - covers professional skills for public health practitioners including monitoring the food and nutrition situation of populations, physical activity, research skills, project management, professional practice, health promotion and communication, policy and politics. Public Health Nutrition is an essential resource for public health practitioners, researchers and administrators, as well as students of nutrition, dietetics and public health wishing to obtain advanced and specialised competencies.

Malnutrition and obesity are both common among Americans over age 65. There are also a host of other medical conditions from which older people and other Medicare beneficiaries suffer that could be improved with appropriate nutritional intervention. Despite that, access to a nutrition professional is very limited. Do nutrition services benefit older people in terms of morbidity, mortality, or quality of life? Which health professionals are best qualified to provide such services? What would be the cost to Medicare of such services? Would the cost be offset by reduced illness in this population? This book addresses these questions, provides recommendations for nutrition services for the elderly, and considers how the coverage policy should be approached and practiced. The book discusses the role of nutrition therapy in the management of a number of diseases. It also examines what the elderly receive in the way of nutrition services along the continuum of care settings and addresses the areas of expertise needed by health professionals to provide appropriate nutrition services and therapy.

This comprehensive text provides the latest research on key concepts, principles and practices for promoting healthy and sustainable food systems. There are increasing concerns about the impact of food systems on environmental sustainability and, in turn, the impact of environmental sustainability on the capacity of food systems to protect food and nutrition security into the future. The contributors to this book are leading researchers in the causes of and solutions to these challenges. As international experts in their fields, they provide in-depth analyses of the issues and evidence-informed recommendations for future policies and practices. Starting with an overview of ideas about health, sustainability and equity in relation to food systems, Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems examines what constitutes a food system, with chapters on production, manufacturing, distribution and retail, among others. The text explores health and sustainable diets, looking at issues such as overconsumption and waste. The book ends with discussions about the politics, policy, personal behaviours and advocacy behind creating healthy and sustainable food systems. With a food systems approach to health and sustainability identified as a priority area for public health, this text introduces core knowledge for students, academics, practitioners and policy-makers from a range of disciplines including food and nutrition sciences, dietetics, public health, public policy, medicine, health science and environmental science.

Nutrition and Epigenetics presents new information on the action of diet and nutritional determinants in regulating the epigenetic control of gene expression in health and disease. Each chapter gives a unique perspective on a different nutritional or dietary component or group of components, and reveals novel mechanisms by which dietary factors mod

Nutritional epidemiology examines dietary or nutritional factors in relation to the occurrence of disease in various populations. It is a fact that substantial progress has been made in recent years in nutritional epidemiology. Compared to the practice during the 1990s, and with the improvements in data analytics, several new approaches are gaining ground. Results from a variety of large-scale studies in the field of nutrition epidemiology have substantially contributed toward the evidence used in guiding dietary recommendations for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, some types of cancer, and other morbidities. In this Special Issue, we would like to bring readers closer to the state-of-the-art in the field by gathering papers covering different aspects of nutrition epidemiology from population-based observational studies. Topics of the submitted articles may, but not necessarily, include eating habits of various populations, especially of those not well-studied, such as in Africa, Oceania, South Americas, immigrants, minorities, as well as a variety of associations between nutrients/foods/food patterns and chronic diseases, like cardiovascular, diabetes, obesity, cancer, etc., and gene–nutrient and epigenome–nutrient interactions related to human health at all ages.