Food systems for improved health: linking agricultural production and human nutrition.
OBJECTIVE
Link traditional agricultural production disciplines to the food sciences and the various disciplines concerned with human nutrition and health in order to find sustainable solutions to malnutrition.


METHODS
Develop a new integrated program area within a university by forging explicit linkages within a wide array of disciplines concerned with food systems and human health.


METHODS
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Human Ecology, the Division of Nutrition, and the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture, and Development at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.


METHODS
Use food-based, system approaches to meet human nutrition goals. Current focus is on the provision of micronutrients (especially iron, vitamin A and iodine) for people globally.


RESULTS
A new program area 'Food Systems for Health' has been developed at Cornell University. The program fosters effective interdisciplinary research, teaching and extension activities directed towards sustainable improvements in human nutrition and health.


CONCLUSIONS
The old paradigms of agriculture, human nutrition, and public health must be shifted from current linear approaches to integrated and interactive approaches if effective long-term, food-based solutions to micronutrient malnutrition are to be found.
Combs
G F
GF
Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-2901, USA.
Duxbury
J M
JM
Welch
R M
RM
D000383:Agriculture; D005260:Female; D005524:Food Technology; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena