Analyzing a piece from "Critical Nutrition"where multiple authors, Jessica Hayes-Conroy, Adele Hite, Kendra Klein, Charlotte Biltekoff and Aya H. Kimura comment on American nutrition practices and how it may be done differently.
"Many American food reform circles have taken up the notion that "food is medicine" in the decontextualized sense used by Western biomedicine with regard to pharmaceuticals; choosing the "right" ones and avoiding the "wrong" ones are all that is needed to guarantee health" (p. 57).
Adele Hite highlights how the goal of individualized medicine disregards the healing properties of food as nutrition is used as treatment solely for diseases of nutritional deficiency and is not discussed in Western biomedicine. Drugs from pharmaceuticals serve as the main source of treatment, yet nutrition is rarely brought into the conversation. This is due to the fact that nutrition is considered a young science, and therefore there is no conclusive evidence on the relationship between diet and chronic disease. Rather than posing nutrition to prevent or cure diseases, diet can be used as a way to aid those in poor health and establish a better overall well being. By neglecting nutrition in a treatment plan, healthcare providers are not exploring the variety of ways health can be improved.
"In other words, 'doing nutrition' requires looking up from the traditional nutrition science microscope focused on vitamins, antioxidants, and isoflavones to take into account health outcomes associated with the entire agrifood system"(p.59).
Kendra Klein proposes that instead of purely focusing on the vitamins found in certain foods, the entire agrifood system must be researched when looking at the outcomes associated with nutrition science. Ecological nutrition examines the ways greenhouse gas emissions have compromised the health and economic vitality of farmers and their communities. Water contamination and soil erosion have and will continue to degrade our landscape and those working on it (p. 59). The American Medical Association, American Public Health Association, and American Nurses Association endorse the ecological nutrition model and want to provide food that is local and organic (p. 59). Whether or not health care systems participate in this endorsement is something I explore throughout this blog.
"In searching for better models of health intervention, I believe that one place from which important lessons have emerged is the history of feminist health activism in the United States" (p. 61).
Through feminist health activism, Jessica Hayes-Conroy illustrates how the proposed ways of re-practicing nutrition while acknowledging critiques against this activism has failed to recognize class differences and used Western-centric logic. The vaginal self exam was a practice endorsed and brought to light by women’s health activists who traveled around to educate women on their bodies (p. 62). This exposed the lack of education on women's bodies, a product of the patriarchal systematic structure of biomedicine. Yet, Hayes-Conroy describes this new connection women had to each other and their bodies as a “collective material endeavor” (p. 62) and uses it as an example for how nutrition practices can become critically engaged. Thus, the question of how food knowledge affects an individual’s subjective behaviors and experiences is proposed. The author questions if one’s emotions influence one’s diet and pushes these experiences to be recognized as social and political instead of individual.
"The goal of 'dietary literacy' is to enable both producers and consumers of messages about dietary health to consciously and critically assess the values that those messages express" (p. 63).
Charlotte Biltekoff reimagines the rhetoric of “doing” nutrition differently to “seeing” (p. 63) nutrition differently. She defines seeing nutrition differently by viewing both the ethical and empirical notions found in nutrition practices. Biltekoff encourages the reader and health care providers to reassess information on dietary health and question where our food comes from and why we are in a nutritional crisis. The author uses the term dietary literacy to define this concern and question we must have for our nutrition. This is effective in her argument because it is used when questioning why “eating healthy” is associated with responsibility when it is a product of social privilege (p. 63). We can use dietary literacy to ponder “the social and moral significance assumed to be inherent in both ‘‘good’’ and ‘‘bad’’ eating habits” (p. 64) Diets heavily focus on the individual and what they can do for themselves to improve their health, while simultaneously ignoring structural and environmental stressors and inequities.
"Without experts being forthcoming about ambiguity and knowledge gaps in science, it is difficult to have a democratic forum where laypeople engage in dialogue with scientists" (p.65).
Aya H. Kimura sums up the article effectively and offers her perspective on nutrition science and how it is often disregarded because “science is best left to ‘experts’ ” (p. 64). Experts on critical nutrition must involve the voices of citizens as their experiences allow scientists to investigate outside their conventional circles. She calls experts to recognize “knowledge gaps” (p. 65) to engage citizens in joining the nutrition conversation. Kimura effectively uses the arguments from Hite, Klein and Hayes-Conroy and summarizes them, connecting them to her conclusion by illuminating the need for “collective meaning making in relation to knowledge and ignorance in nutrition” (p. 65). Despite providing examples on how this togetherness can be established, the need for such meetings is apparent and brought to light by Kimura’s concluding section.
In Conclusion
This journal article has allowed me to explore opposing viewpoints on critical nutrition and has given me perspective into ways we can “do nutrition”. Each individual reacts differently to medicine just as our bodies digest food in contrasting ways and react to diets differently. A personalized medical plan should be seen as an integrative health plan including medication along with a diet plan.
Why is food not treated like medicine in a hospital setting? Why is there an emphasis placed on perfecting a medical treatment plan while ignoring what an individualized diet can do for one’s physical and mental health? These questions provide the basis for my research and are to be explored throughout this blog.
Work Cited
Hayes-Conroy, J., Hite, A., Klein, K., Biltekoff, C., & Kimura, A. (2014). Doing Nutrition Differently. Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, 14(3), 56–66. https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2014.14.3.56
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