FOR RELEASE: April 9, 1997
Contact: Susan Lang
Office: (607) 255-3613
Internet: [email protected]
Compuserve: Larry Bernard 72650,565
http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The public is bombarded with nutritional "information du
jour" that, in general, provides poor guidance for individual and public
decisions, a Cornell University nutrition expert says. Yet, applying
science-based knowledge for healthier populations is no simple feat. "The
process of implementing knowledge into nutrition policy requires expertise
from the microbiological to the macro-sociological and is very undeveloped
in the field of nutrition," said Cutberto Garza, M.D., professor and
director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell.
To help develop general principles to guide this process, Garza and Cornell
colleagues Jere Haas, professor of nutritional sciences; Jean-Pierre
Habicht, M.D., the James Jamison Professor of Nutritional Epidemiology; and
David Pelletier, associate professor of nutritional sciences, edited the
recently published monograph, Beyond Nutritional Recommendations:
Implementing Science for Healthier Populations (Division of Nutritional
Sciences, Cornell University: 1996). It is based on a 1995 three-day
interdisciplinary symposium organized by the Cornell nutritionists that
focused on how science-based information can be used to improve nutrition
policy.
The symposium and the 348-page volume of proceedings examined two case
studies: one of nutrient deficiency -- vitamin A deficiency -- and one of
excess -- the relationship between dietary fat, lipids and cardiovascular
disease. In 17 chapters, 46 experts from around the world discuss the two
case studies, addressing:
-- what basic biological knowledge was needed before considering
nutritional interventions;
-- what biological principles were required to guide the design of
interventions;
-- how epidemiology was used to predict risk for specific nutritional
problems and benefits of potential interventions;
-- how psychological and sociocultural factors influenced the acceptance,
response to and delivery of interventions;
-- what steps were needed for designing and implementing effective
interventions; and
-- how the tensions between nutrition and non-nutrition goals were balanced
in developing national policy and science-based knowledge in the process.
"By reviewing these issues for each case study, we have begun to identify
generalizable principles relevant to many nutrition problems," Garza said.
"These proceedings can now serve as a paradigm for structuring insights
gained from the biological and behavioral sciences to provide pertinent and
timely information for nutrition policy and program decisions."
The book is $36, including shipping and handling. It can be ordered from
the Cornell Resource Center, 7 Research Park, Cornell University, Ithaca,
NY 14850; fax (607) 255-9946.
-30-
EDITORS: Reviews copies are available by contacting Carol Doolittle, (607)
255-5830 or fax, (607) 255-9873.
RSS