A NEW ERA FOR SCIENCE IN NUTRITION
A NEW ERA FOR SCIENCE IN NUTRITION
复制标题
DOI：
10.1093/ajcn/45.5.1048
复制
发表时间：
1987-05-01
影响因子：
7.1
通讯作者：
WEBER, PC
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
LEAF, A;WEBER, PC
人类作为一个属已经存在了大约200万年。在此期间，食物一直是人口增长的限制因素。人类并不总是像今天这样成功地利用地球资源。直到1850年，地球上的人口才增长到10亿。1930年，人口增加到20亿。到1960年，人口已上升到30亿，1976年，地球上有40亿人。1986年7月，新闻几乎没有注意到世界人口增加了第50亿人。图1显示了这一人口增长。然而，这种指数增长，这是我们人类成功的一个衡量标准，也可能预示着我们在食物供应和其他基本资源方面的问题。《纽约时报》援引联合国粮食及农业组织的粮食产量数据报道说，今天的好消息是，我们生产的粮食足以养活世界人口。非洲仍然存在饥荒，大约4亿或5亿儿童患有蛋白质-卡路里营养不良症（4），这是因为食品分配不良，而不是因为粮食绝对短缺。分配问题不是由运输技术问题引起的，而是由无知以及助长或至少纵容这种分配不平等的经济和政治制度引起的，这是我们的技术和社会发展之间不平衡的另一个例子。在保持粮食供应与人口增长同步方面取得的显著成就是现代技术的胜利。在发达国家和发展中国家，每公顷耕地的作物产量都有所增加。这是由于种植的谷物、化肥、杀虫剂和驱动农业机械的能源补贴的遗传改良。这些事态发展暂时造成了一种富足的局面，如果这种沾沾自喜的说法是有道理的话，而数百万人却在承受分配问题的后果。食物供应的数量问题似乎暂时得到了解决，尽管我认为每个人都必须对未来感到严重关切。关于我们食物的质量方面，我们可以说些什么？在20世纪30年代和40年代，人们对必需氨基酸、维生素和矿物质有了很多了解，但仍然有更多的东西需要了解，以确定我们饮食中这些必需成分的需求。研究继续为生命周期的几个阶段以及可能改变特定营养素需求的怀孕和各种疾病的特殊情况确定这些需求。这些重要的发展构成了营养学的经典时代，但不是它的黄金时期，我认为，我们现在正处于黄金时期的门槛上。随着人们逐渐认识到营养和最佳健康是不可分割的相互依赖的，营养不仅仅是在我们的饮食中提供足够的已知基本成分，这一时期的开端也逐渐开始。伊顿和康纳（5）在他们对旧石器时代营养的挑衅性讨论中，将我们对饮食的遗传适应发生在400万年前。
Humanity has existed as a genus for about 2 million years. During this period food has been a limiting factor in population growth. Man has not always been so successful in conquering the earth’s resources for his own uses as he appears to be today. It took until 1850 for the population on earth to grow to one billion persons. In 1930 the population had increased to two billion. By 1960 the population had risen to 3 billion and in 1976 there were four billion people on earth (1). In July, 1986 the news gave very little notice to the fact that the 5 billionth individual had been added to the world’s population. This population growth is depicted dramatically in Figure 1. Yet this exponential growth, which is a measure of the success of our genus, may also portend problems for our kind in food supplies and other essential resources. The good news today, however, is that we are producing sufficient food to feed the world’s population, the New York Times has reported (2), citing figures for grain production from the Food and Agriculture Organization (3). That there is still famine in Africa and some 4 or 5 hundred millions of children suffer from protein-calorie malnutrition(4), is because of poor distribution of food products not because of any absolute shortage of food. The distribution problems are not caused by technical problems in transportation but rather by ignorance and by economic and political systems which foster or at least condone such distribution inequalities-another example of the disparity between our technological and social evolutions. The remarkable success in keeping the food supply in step with the expanding population is a triumph of modern technology. In both the developed and developing countries the crop yield per hectare of cultivated land has increased. This results from genetic improvements in the grains planted, fertilizers, pesticides, and energy subsidies that drive the farm machinery. These developments have for the moment created a situation of abundance, if such a self-congratulatory note is justified while millions suffer the consequences of the distribution problems. The quantitative aspects of the supply of food seem for the moment solved though I think every person must have serious concerns for the future. What can be said regarding the qualitative aspects of our foods? Much was learned through the 1930’s and ‘40’s about essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals but still there is much more to be known to define requirements of these essential constituents of our diets. Studies continue to define these requirements for the several stages of the life cycle and for special conditions of pregnancy and various diseases that may alter the requirements for specific nutrients. These important developments constitute the classic era of nutrition but not its golden period, on the threshold of which, I believe, we are now poised. The beginnings of the present period commenced gradually with the realization that nutrition and optimal health are inextricably interdependent, that there is more to nutrition than simply providing sufficient amounts of the known essential ingredients in our diets. Eaton and Konner(5) in their provocative discussion of paleolithic nutrition ascribe the period during which our genetic adaptation to diet occurred to the 4 million years spanning