Review: Contradictions and controversies in contemporary nutrition
Author: Valeria Laza
Affiliation: Hygiene, Department of Family Medicine, “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Abstract
The role and the importance of food in health status conditioning and in disease prevention and treatment have been mentioned for a long time. Over the years, information about food has much evolved, notably in the last two centuries, but also nutrition discussions and presentations. Consumers are increasingly interested in their health status, and hence, in their food. Nowadays we are surrounded by a real food/nutritional/dietetic cacophony, which is defined by this agglomeration of many messages which are frequently incoherent, inconsistent or contradictory. Some highly recommend certain food, others contraindicate it, considering it toxic. With no intention of offering an exhaustive presentation, the paper only reviews some of very debated and controversial foods during the last years: milk, eggs, and meat. After the presentation of the main advantages and disadvantages of these foods, it could be said that a miracle/ideal food does not exist, and that the only healthy diet is a balanced and moderate diet, which respects traditional food patterns as part of the national cultural patrimony and of national food identity.
Keywords: food, nutrition, milk, meat, eggs, cacophony of food.
https://doi.org/10.26659/pm3.2017.18.4.220
Review: Contradictions and controversies in contemporary nutrition
English 
Română 
