Nutrition Ecology—A Concept for Systemic Nutrition Research and Integrative Problem Solving

Abstract

Many nutrition-related problems (e.g., obesity) are complex and thus characterized by a multitude of components, interrelatedness, associated feedbacks, and dynamics. Nutrition ecology is an innovative concept to deal with complexity and multidimensionality in nutrition science and practice. Along the food supply chain the dimensions health, environment, society, and economy are taken into account simultaneously and coequally. By combining special disciplinary knowledge with methods and principles of research on complexity and knowledge integration, nutrition ecology offers a concept to develop approaches to solving complex nutrition-related problems. Accordingly, the conceptual background and methodological elements of nutrition ecology are presented and discussed.

Keywords:

• nutrition ecology
• knowledge integration
• multidimensionality
• complexity

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors sincerely thank Martina Metz and Claus Leitzmann for reviewing an earlier version of this article and Maike Nestle for editing the manuscript.