Diet and Disease: In Traditional and Developing Societies

The relationship between diet and those diseases caused by, or related to, poor nutrition is influenced by anthropological and physiological factors. This volume, first published in 1990 and based on a symposium organised in collaboration with the International Commission on the Anthropology of Food, emphasises the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of diet and disease. Distinguished contributors, from nutritionists to anthropologists, examine the ways in which nutrition may affect sociocultural circumstances and how the causation and distribution of disease is linked to anthropological factors. Amongst the topics addressed are the extent to which human beings can adapt to food shortage, how nutritional factors affect people's capacity to work and develop properly mentally, how nutritional status influences susceptibility to infectious disease, who is most at risk in the community and why, the relationship between environment , economy and malnutrition and how people perceive food in relation to health. This research level text will interest both nutritionists and anthropologists.