From The American Society for Nutritional Sciences, there are two main themes in social nutrition research

• specific questions or issues that are likely to be important in the next decade (issues such as obesity, poverty and nutrition, food security in the age of terrorism, etc.)
• emerging orientations that will influence social research across a range of specific topics

Social Research in an Integrated Science of Nutrition: Future Directions

research that is concerned with the social determinants, social mechanisms and social consequences of food and nutrition at both population and individual levels. In this discussion “social” is used broadly to encompass a variety of social science perspectives and concepts (e.g., economics, anthropology, psychology, sociology, political science, demography and epidemiology).

… despite great advances in our knowledge about the metabolic and molecular pathways that govern energy metabolism and food intake, the incidence of obesity continues to rise to epidemic proportions. Biological knowledge, alone, is inadequate to understand this phenomenon and its consequences. The fact that the prevalence of obesity has dramatically increased over a relatively short period of time, when our genetic background could not have significantly changed, suggests that although our genes may predict susceptibility, they cannot explain why so many more of us are obese now than in our parents’ generation. Understanding both the causes and likely the solutions requires attention to the complex interactions between our genes and lifestyles, including changes in people’s concepts of meal size and behavioral changes such as increases in the amount of food eaten outside of the home and decreases in physical exercise. A further level of complexity is added with the recognition that undernutrition exists side by side with obesity, in both developing and industrialized countries.

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/133/4/1231

Learn more…

American Society for Nutrition
http://www.nutrition.org/

The Journal of Nutrition
http://jn.nutrition.org/

The American Society for Nutritional Sciences
http://jn.nutrition.org/misc/terms.shtml

Notes

hybrid – consultation / online
nutritional health assessment
social / family eating assessment – behavior, motivation, presentation, appropriate support
program / guidelines
followup

based on…
10 Slim-Down Strategies You Can Count On
http://www.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s1-4-88-279-6986-1,00.html
good suggestions, easily explained and implemented, web information, monitor / followup online

prep – food journal, lifestyle log
consultation – objectives, nutrition assessment questions, discussion, diet history
assess current eating / nutrition patterns
outline plan, suggest improvements for food selection and weight management
online / email – 3x per week – progress, information, encouragement, feedback for ?? weeks
followup – evaluation, reflection