DIET: OFF‐BALANCE

Dietary balance has been a central theme of nutrition education for many years. The committee who produced the NACNE Report were of the opinion that there is a need to discard much of the current approach to nutrition education and suggested that new ways of teaching be devised which avoid the used of the term ‘balanced diet’ in the traditional sense. But what concepts can teachers use in its place? Derek Shrimpton PhD discusses some of the historical background which led to the adoption of the phrase and suggests some more appropriate terminology