The science of nutrition is a relatively new field and is therefore continuously changing, as new research comes to light. Advances in nutrition investigation have widened our knowledge about the key linkage between nutrition and health. As a result, dietary therapy and nutrition education are constantly being reviewed and updated, which makes the field very challenging and exciting. Dietetics is a field concerned with the maintenance and enhancement of health through food and nutrition. Dietetics is based on medical sciences, but at the same time requires a significant input from the psychosocial sciences regarding the behaviour of people.
Poor nutrition contributes directly to poor quality of life.
South Africa can be seen as a developing country with a multicultural society having broad gradients in socio-economic and cultural factors that influence eating patterns. On the other hand, we have a worryingly high incidence of lifestyle diseases or diseases of excess, like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, occurring in the more affluent societies. Large segments of our population are at present in a process of urbanisation, which is essentially accompanied by a process of Nutrition Transition . This term describes the changes in dietary patterns and nutrient intakes associated with urbanisation, acculturation or westernisation. People who suffer with high cholesterol, diabetes, spastic colon, and obesity, to name a few, all need to ensure that they are eating to improve their health condition.