The rise and fall of dietetics and of nutrition science, 4000 BCE–2000 CE

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveTo outline the history of dietetics since its beginnings in recorded history, and of nutrition science in its first phase beginning in the mid-nineteenth century and then its second phase in the second half of the twentieth century.MethodThree narrative overviews: of dietetics from its beginnings until after the end of the mediaeval and then Renaissance periods in Europe; of nutrition science in its first phase from its beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century until the middle of the twentieth century, with reasons for its rise; and of nutrition science in its second phase in the second half of the twentieth century, with reasons for its decline.ConclusionsIn its third phase in the twenty-first century, the new nutrition science should regain much of the vision and scope of its preceding disciplines.