Choose one population and write a 3-5 page essay detailing how nutritional epidemiology can impact the population’s health. APA Format, Utilize attached article for guidance.
PERSPECTIVE
Understanding Nutritional Epidemiology and Its Role in Policy1,2
Ambika Satija,3,4 Edward Yu,3 Walter C Willett,3–5 and Frank B Hu 3–5* 3Department of Nutrition and 4Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA; and 5Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
ABSTRACT
Nutritional epidemiology has recently been criticized on several fronts, including the inability to measure diet accurately, and for its reliance on observational studies to address etiologic questions. In addition, several recent meta-analyses with serious methodologic flaws have arrived at erroneous or misleading conclusions, reigniting controversy over formerly settled debates. All of this has raised questions regarding the ability of nutritional epidemiologic studies to inform policy. These criticisms, to a large degree, stem from a misunderstanding of the methodologic issues of the field and the inappropriate use of the drug trial paradigm in nutrition research. The exposure of interest in nutritional epidemiology is human diet, which is a complex system of interacting components that cumulatively affect health. Consequently, nutritional epidemiology constantly faces a unique set of challenges and continually develops specific methodologies to address these. Misunderstandingtheseissues canleadtothenonconstructive andsometimesnaivecriticisms weseetoday.Thisarticle aimstoclarifycommon misunderstandings of nutritional epidemiology, address challenges to the field, and discuss the utility of nutritional science in guiding policy by focusing on 5 broad questions commonly asked of the field. Adv Nutr 2015;6:5–18.
Keywords: dietary assessment, food policy, meta-analysis, nutritional epidemiology, randomized controlled trials, prospective cohort studies