From a Reductionist to a Holistic Approach in Preventive Nutrition to Define New and More Ethical Paradigms

Abstract

This concept paper intends to define four new paradigms for improving nutrition research. First, the consequences of applying a reductionist versus a holistic approach to nutrition science will be discussed. The need for a more focused preventive nutrition approach, as opposed to a curative one, will then be presented on the basis of the ‘healthy core metabolism’ concept. This will lead us to propose a new classification of food products based on processing for future epidemiological studies. As a result of applying the holistic approach, health food potential will be redefined based on both food structure and nutrient density. These new paradigms should help define a more ethical preventive nutrition for humans to improve public recommendations while preserving the environment.

Keywords

• preventive nutrition
• healthy life years
• sustainability
• reductionism
• holism
• healthy core metabolism
• intervention studies
• food ranking
• food structure