This book is a complete, authoritative reference on nutrition and its role in contemporary medicine, dietetics, nursing, public health, and public policy. Distinguished international experts provide in-depth information on historical landmarks in nutrition, specific dietary components, nutrition in integrated biologic systems, nutritional assessment through the life cycle, nutrition in various clinical disorders, and public health and policy issues. This 11th Edition, offers coverage of nutrition's role in disease prevention, international nutrition issues, public health concerns, the role of obesity in a variety of chronic illnesses, genetics as it applies to nutrition, and areas of major scientific progress relating nutrition to disease.