Cited by 484Nutrition, Health, and Society StudiesHistory of Science and MedicineDietetics, Nutrition, and Education

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 67 of the 67 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 57 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

History of modern nutrition science—implications for current research, dietary guidelines, and food policy

Open access

Abstract

Dariush Mozaffarian and colleagues describe how the history of modern nutrition science has shaped current thinking

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This historical review argues that modern nutrition science is young and was shaped by early single-nutrient deficiency discoveries, leaving a reductionist legacy in research, dietary guidelines, and policy. It calls for a shift toward food-based diet patterns and systems-level policy to address both undernutrition and diet-related non-communicable diseases.

Key findings

  • Modern nutrition science is less than a century old: the first vitamin was isolated and chemically defined in 1926, and the first half of the 20th century focused on identifying and synthesizing vitamins and minerals to prevent deficiency diseases such as scurvy, beriberi, pellagra, rickets, xerophthalmia, and nutritional anaemias.
  • A reductionist, single-nutrient model was extended to diet-related non-communicable diseases, exemplified by the 1977 US Senate report *Dietary Goals for the United States* and the 1980 *Dietary Guidelines for Americans*, which focused on total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sugar, sodium, and fiber.
  • Later evidence showed that a focus on total fat produced little measurable health benefit, while diet patterns such as Mediterranean and similar food-based patterns showed more consistent benefits; single-nutrient theories were inadequate to explain many effects of diet on non-communicable diseases.
  • Lower income countries now face a “double burden” of conventional malnutrition (insufficient calories and micronutrients) and modern malnutrition (poor diet quality) leading to obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer; policy should prioritize food-based targets, trusted communication, and integrated systems-level strategies.

Methods

  • Design: narrative historical review and commentary on modern nutrition science, dietary guidelines, and food policy; no systematic review, data sample, or formal quantitative analysis is described.
  • Approach: chronological synthesis of key historical events from the 1910s to the present, organized into eras such as vitamin discovery, fat versus sugar and the protein gap, diet-related chronic diseases and supplementation, and recent evidence debates and diet patterns.
  • Main analysis: interpretive synthesis linking historical developments to current research priorities, dietary guidelines, and policy recommendations.

Limitations

  • The paper does not state formal limitations.
  • Evident from the text: as a narrative historical review, it does not describe systematic search or selection criteria, quantitative synthesis, or formal risk-of-bias assessment; conclusions rely on selected historical events and cited literature.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1136/bmj.k2392

Cites

67 of 67 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 57 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

Show all 37 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 29
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 25
46 of 46
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Nutrition policy to reduce non-communicable diseases has so far generally relied on consumer knowledge—informing the public through education, dietary guidelines, and product nutrition labels—assuming people will make better choices.

    “Nutrition policy to reduce non-communicable diseases has so far generally relied on consumer knowledge—simply inform the public through education, dietary guidelines, product nutrition labels, etc, and people will make better choices.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Policy makers continue to promote total calorie labelling laws for menus and packaging and other calorie reduction policies, rather than aiming to increase calories from healthy foods and reduce calories from unhealthy foods.

    “Another example of policy lag involves energy balance. Policy makers continue to promote total calorie labelling laws for menus and packaging and other calorie reduction policies, rather than aiming to increase calories from healthy foods and reduce calories from unhealthy foods.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The public is bewildered by evolving dietary messages.

    “The public is understandably bewildered by these evolving dietary messages.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Many food companies compound the confusion by marketing products rich in refined flours, sugar, salt, and industrial additives, exploiting added micronutrients or terms such as organic, local, or natural to supply a false aura of healthiness.

    “Many food companies compound the confusion by marketing products rich in refined flours, sugar, salt, and industrial additives, exploiting added micronutrients or terms such as “organic,” “local,” or “natural” to supply a false aura of healthiness.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Most policy innovation has focused on sugar sweetened drinks, following the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control model of tax, restrict places of sale, restrict marketing, and warning labels.

    “Most policy innovation has focused on sugar sweetened drinks, following the model of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: tax, restrict places of sale, restrict marketing, use warning labels.”
5 of 5

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

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Show all 65 references

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [6]American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmarks. The Discovery of Vitamin C by Albert Szent-Györgyi. 2002. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/szentgyorgyi.html
  2. [24]Davis C Saltos E Dietary recommendations and how they have changed over time. America’s eating habits: changes and consequences. Agriculture Information Bulletin No 750.USDA, ERA, 1999.

Cited by

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Items 401–484 of 484

Metadata

Authors
Mozaffarian, D., Rosenberg, I., & Uauy, R.
Affiliations
  • Tufts University (US)
  • University of London (GB)
Venue
BMJ
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2018-06-13
Volume
361
Pages
k2392
ISSN
  • 1756-1833 (ISSN-L)
  • 0959-8138
OpenAlex
W2808671770
Cited by
484
References
65
Citations by year
2026: 43 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 67 · 2022: 72 · 2021: 78 · 2020: 69 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 6
FWCI
45.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • BMJ (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
  • Universidad de Chile (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL130735)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Nutrition, Health, and Society Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › History of Science and Medicine
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Dietetics, Nutrition, and Education
Keywords
history of nutrition science, nutrition research, dietary guidelines, food policy, nutrition science
MeSH terms
Chronic Disease, Diet, Dietary Carbohydrates, Dietary Fats, Humans, Vitamins, Nutrition Policy, Dietary Supplements, Biomedical Research, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century, Nutritional Sciences

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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

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