Editorial

Citation

Blades, M. (2003), "Editorial", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 33 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2003.01733baa.001

Editorial

Nutrition is absolutely vital to health and a good understanding of food, nutrition and health is important to caterers in helping them to provide healthy meals.

It is also important to health care staff at all levels who may be providing information to patients on modifying their diet. Staff in the health and leisure industry also may provide information to clients on diet and fitness.

For those in the food manufacturing industry, as well as their public relations staff, a knowledge of nutrition is helpful. Many of these groups are responsible for translating nutritional information into information on packs and leaflets as well as advertisements.

Like any subject, the science of nutrition and dietetics abounds with terms and concepts, which may be unfamiliar.

However, such terms can often be seen in magazine articles and leaflets, yet they may be inadequately explained. So while they enter the general vocabulary of the population they are not really understood.

Unfortunately, there are relatively few courses on nutrition for such groups of staff. Courses may be provided by local training organisations, catering organisations that employ staff and dietetic departments. Additionally, there are validated short courses on nutrition produced by the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene (RIPHH) and the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health (RSH). All of the courses are run to cover a set syllabus and conclude with an examination.

Recently, I was asked to run an intensive validated course for professional caterers. This course was for the Certificate in Nutrition and Health by the RIPHH. It is an intensive course, with a syllabus which covers:

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  Basics of nutrition including all nutrients, nutritional requirements of different groups, factors affecting food intake and choice, diet and health and the importance of a balanced diet.

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  The more practical application of good nutrition to situations including adapting menus, adjusting recipes, reading food labels and promoting healthy eating.

All participants were enthusiastic about being able to apply the ideas on healthy eating to the practical situation of menus, recipes and food provided in their workplaces. However, at times, despite their tremendous enthusiasm, some of them struggled with the terms related to nutrition like different types of fibre or non-starch polysaccharide or NSP!

It seems that there is a need for much more nutrition education at all sorts of levels. The integration of the vocabulary of nutrition needs to be considered as part of catering courses along with culinary terms. More involvement of nutrition into courses on health and fitness and marketing would also be helpful.

Therefore, raising the understanding of nutrition in this way could be helpful to all. The development of courses such as those from the RSH and also RIPHH, as well as other less intensive ones, will be invaluable in achieving these goals.

Mabel Blades