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Diet and behavior: Multidisciplinary approaches
Appetite, 1991, 17, 163
Book Review Diet and Behavior: Multidisciplinary Approaches. Edited by N. A. Kransnegor, G. D. Miller and A. Simopoulos. ILSI Nutrition Foundation. Springer-Verlag: Heidelberg, 1990, Pp. 234. E65.00. ISBN 3-540-19595-5 and ISBN O-387-19595-5. A multidisciplinary approach involving a wide range of methodologies is clearly needed to investigate relationships between diet and behavior. This volume resulted from a workshop that brought together investigators from a variety of disciplines who shared an interest in the general topic of diet and behavior. It is a statement on how far we have come that such a book is now a reality. Building on knowledge of nutrition, neuroscience, behavioral science, and nutritional anthrolpology, over the past two decades, a body of empirical research has been generated on the loosely connected topics addressing diet and behavior relationships. As a group, the authors of the chapters bring expertise from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. In general, the chapters developed from the workshop presentations follow a format of describing aspects the current knowledge of diet and behavior from particular disciplinary perspective, and emphasize the strengths and limitations of the methodologies used to obtain the data. The chapters included in the book can be divided into two broad categories. First, there are those adddressing the factors (cultural, social, experiential, biological) influencing food selection and diet. The second includes chapters focusing on the effects of diet on behavior. While there is little doubt that a variety of behavioral factors influence food intake and the formation of food acceptance patterns, the evidence for effects of diet on behavior is much less complete. The editors have explicitly recognized that difficulties arise from the need to apply multidisciplinary approaches to questions regarding diet and behavior. A major purpose of the book is to do some “consciousness raising” and encourage those of us who investigate diet and behavior to move beyond our own disciplinary perspective. Because of the nature and intent of the volume, it contains something for everyone who does research on diet and behavior, and the volume could provide an excellent source of readings for a seminar on diet and behavior. Given the tutorial orientation of the workshop and the book, I think that for investigators in the area of diet and behavior, the chapters outside the readers’ own area of expertise will be the most useful. For example, as someone who studies eating behavior, while I would recommend Rodin’s and Rolls & Hetherington’s chapters on behavioral methodology, I learned more new information from the chapter by Ward on genetic epidemiology and Vietze & Kiely’s chapter on behavioral epidemiology. My observation only reflects the editors’ intent; in order to continue to make progress in the area of diet and behavior, investigators must develop an appreciation of research questions and methodologies provided by other disciplines. While the workshop and the resulting volume have made a major contribution in helping investigators to develop this appreciation, we will have a great deal to do in the study of diet and behavior, as M.R.C. Greenwood emphasizes in the closing contribution. Crossdisciplinary research involving nutritionists, neuroscientists, nutritional anthropologists and behavioral scientists will yield large payoffs, but will also require major efforts on the part of potential collaborators. In many cases, we will need to go beyond simply appreciating the methodologies of other disciplines. Collaborative research on nutrition and behavior will lead to questions that were not asked when we worked in more isolated circumstances. In such case, traditional methods may not be up to the task and we will need concerted cross disciplinary efforts to develop new hybrid methodologies. Leann L. Birch Division of Human Development &IFamily Studies University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801, U.S.A.
01956663/91/050163+01
%03.00/O
0
1991 Academic
Press Limited
Book Review Diet and Behavior: Multidisciplinary Approaches. Edited by N. A. Kransnegor, G. D. Miller and A. Simopoulos. ILSI Nutrition Foundation. Springer-Verlag: Heidelberg, 1990, Pp. 234. E65.00. ISBN 3-540-19595-5 and ISBN O-387-19595-5. A multidisciplinary approach involving a wide range of methodologies is clearly needed to investigate relationships between diet and behavior. This volume resulted from a workshop that brought together investigators from a variety of disciplines who shared an interest in the general topic of diet and behavior. It is a statement on how far we have come that such a book is now a reality. Building on knowledge of nutrition, neuroscience, behavioral science, and nutritional anthrolpology, over the past two decades, a body of empirical research has been generated on the loosely connected topics addressing diet and behavior relationships. As a group, the authors of the chapters bring expertise from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. In general, the chapters developed from the workshop presentations follow a format of describing aspects the current knowledge of diet and behavior from particular disciplinary perspective, and emphasize the strengths and limitations of the methodologies used to obtain the data. The chapters included in the book can be divided into two broad categories. First, there are those adddressing the factors (cultural, social, experiential, biological) influencing food selection and diet. The second includes chapters focusing on the effects of diet on behavior. While there is little doubt that a variety of behavioral factors influence food intake and the formation of food acceptance patterns, the evidence for effects of diet on behavior is much less complete. The editors have explicitly recognized that difficulties arise from the need to apply multidisciplinary approaches to questions regarding diet and behavior. A major purpose of the book is to do some “consciousness raising” and encourage those of us who investigate diet and behavior to move beyond our own disciplinary perspective. Because of the nature and intent of the volume, it contains something for everyone who does research on diet and behavior, and the volume could provide an excellent source of readings for a seminar on diet and behavior. Given the tutorial orientation of the workshop and the book, I think that for investigators in the area of diet and behavior, the chapters outside the readers’ own area of expertise will be the most useful. For example, as someone who studies eating behavior, while I would recommend Rodin’s and Rolls & Hetherington’s chapters on behavioral methodology, I learned more new information from the chapter by Ward on genetic epidemiology and Vietze & Kiely’s chapter on behavioral epidemiology. My observation only reflects the editors’ intent; in order to continue to make progress in the area of diet and behavior, investigators must develop an appreciation of research questions and methodologies provided by other disciplines. While the workshop and the resulting volume have made a major contribution in helping investigators to develop this appreciation, we will have a great deal to do in the study of diet and behavior, as M.R.C. Greenwood emphasizes in the closing contribution. Crossdisciplinary research involving nutritionists, neuroscientists, nutritional anthropologists and behavioral scientists will yield large payoffs, but will also require major efforts on the part of potential collaborators. In many cases, we will need to go beyond simply appreciating the methodologies of other disciplines. Collaborative research on nutrition and behavior will lead to questions that were not asked when we worked in more isolated circumstances. In such case, traditional methods may not be up to the task and we will need concerted cross disciplinary efforts to develop new hybrid methodologies. Leann L. Birch Division of Human Development &IFamily Studies University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801, U.S.A.
01956663/91/050163+01
%03.00/O
0
1991 Academic
Press Limited