Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

From the imperial to the empty calorie: how nutrition relations underpin food regime transitions

  • Published:
Agriculture and Human Values Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article works in a recursive manner by using the tools of a food regime approach to reinterpret the nutrition transition that has been underway internationally for 100 years, and then describing the contributions of nutrition science to the 1st and 2nd Food Regimes and the passages between Food Regimes. The resulting history—from the ‘imperial calorie’ through the ‘protective’ vitamin to the ‘empty calorie’—illuminates a neglected dimension to food regime theorising: the role of socio-technical systems in shaping a set of value relations that are central to class relations. Contestation over one such system, nutritionalisation, currently involves an ungovernable array of actors. In describing the protagonists to the system of nutritionalisation, a classic confrontation emerges between technical and lifeworld rationality. Representing the former approach are actor networks responsible for the ‘trade-in-health’ sector which produces foods and nutritional values aimed at both over-nourished and under-nourished populations. Clinging to a lifeworld rationality are ‘culture eaters’ worldwide, for whom nutrition value relations are secondary to communal and ecological relations. This dynamic appears within wealthier Asian states which are emerging as central to the trade-in-nutritional health sector while acting to protect their own customary dietary practices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Von Liebig is also important to modern food systems for other reasons: he invented nitrogen-based fertilisers and promoted science-based agriculture. Further, he derived a method for producing beef extract from carcasses: The Liebig Extract of Meat Company sold beef bouillon cubes (becoming the Oxo cube in 1899) as a cheap alternative to meat.

  2. In many respects Yudkin followed in the footsteps of Atwater in his belief that people’s diets would only improve once they had been adequately educated about nutrition choices, and that this education should come from benevolent food industries enlightened by social scientifically trained nutritionists (Smith 1998).

  3. High protein diets are bad for kidney function and rob the body of calcium. It is thus confusing to be encouraged to consume another protein rich food group, dairy, to protect against osteoporosis: a bone-thinning condition that results from too little calcium absorption (DuPuis 2002, p. 116).

  4. The US government continues to recommend higher levels of protein than are advocated by the WHO (Lawrence and Worsley 2007).

  5. 2544 is the Thai identification of the year 2001.

  6. Vitamin D is widely assumed even now to be a natural element of milk.

  7. While these qualities also pertain to some South American and African states, these states do not have the added advantage of being identified in public health circles as practising healthy culinary cultures.

  8. Across Asia, Pingali (2006) estimates that temperate zone commodities like beef, dairy products, wheat and vegetables such as potatoes, have increased in consumption by a factor of thirteen between the early 1960s and late 1990s. They are responsible for turning Asia into a net importer of foods (Fold and Pritchard 2005).

  9. In the fourth plan (1977–1981), the protein was to take the form of mung bean and soy bean. Thailand has not followed the typical path of the nutrition transition with increases in red meat consumption (Rae 1997).

  10. This situation does not negate the transfer of anti-oxidant rich foods from South to North: from Africa to Europe, and from South America to Europe and North America.

References

  • Aaby, K., G. Skrede, and R. Wrolstad. 2005. Phenolic composition of antioxidant activities in flesh and achenes of strawberries (Fragaria ananassa). Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry 53: 4032–4040.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adams, T. 2007. ‘A troubled relationship to food’: Betsy Lerner’s food and loathing: A lament. Paper presented to the agriculture, human values and food conference, 30 May–3 June 3, in Victoria, BC.

  • Araghi, F. 2003. Food regimes and the production of value: Some methodological issues. The Journal of Peasant Studies 30 (2): 41–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barling, D., and T. Lang. 2005. Trading on health: Cross-continental production and consumption tensions and the governance of international food standards. In Cross-continental food chains, ed. N. Fold and B. Pritchard, 39–51. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beghin, J. 2006. Evolving dairy markets in Asia: Recent findings and implications. Food Policy 31: 195–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belasco, W. 1993. Appetite for change: How the counter culture took on the food industry, 316. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blouin, C., M. Chopra, and R. van der Hoeven. 2009. Trade and social determinants of health. The Lancet: 1–6. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61777-8.

  • Burch, D. 2005. Production, consumption and trade in poultry: Corporate linkages in North-South supply chains. In Cross-continental food chains, ed. N. Fold and B. Pritchard, 166–178. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burch, D., and G. Lawrence (forthcoming). The ‘Wellness’ phenomenon: Implications for global agri-food systems. In Food security, nutrition and sustainability: New challenges, future options, ed. K. Lyons, G. Lawrence, and T. Wallington. London: Earthscan.

  • Cannon, G. 2005. The rise and fall of dietetics and of nutrition science, 4000 BCE–2000 CE. Public Health Nutrition 8 (6A): 701–705.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cannon, G., and C. Leitzmann. 2005. The new nutrition science. Public Health Nutrition 8 (6A): 673–694.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cannon, G., and C. Leitzmann. 2006. The New Nutrition Science project. Scandinavian Journal of Food and Nutrition 50 (1): 5–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao, G., E. Sofic, and R. Prior. 1996. Antioxidant capacity of tea and common vegetables. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 44: 3426–3431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlsson-Kanyama, A., M. Ekstrom, and H. Shanahan. 2003. Food and life cycle energy inputs: Consequences of diet and ways to increase efficiency. Ecological Economics 44: 293–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, M., C. Tirado, N. Aberman, and B. Thompson. 2008. Impact of climate change and bioenergy on nutrition. Washington, DC: The International Food Policy Research Institute and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordain, L., B. Eaton, A. Sebastian, N. Mann, S. Lindeberg, B. Watkins, J. O’Keefe, and J. Brand-Miller. 2005. Origins and evolution of the Western diet: Health implications for the 21st century. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 81: 341–354.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coveney, J. 2006. Food, morals and meaning, 2nd ed. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crotty, P. 1995. Good nutrition? Fact and fashion in dietary advice. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cullather, N. 2007a. American Pie: The imperialism of the calorie. History Today 57 (2): 34–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cullather, N. 2007b. The foreign policy of the calorie. American Historical Review 112: 337–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cuthbertson, D. 1972. Obituary Notice. Lord Boyd Orr. British Journal of Nutrition 27 (1): 1–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dawe, D., R. Robertson, and L. Unnevehr. 2002. Golden rice: What role could it play in alleviation of vitamin A deficiency? Food Policy 27: 541–560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dixon, J. 2002. The changing chicken: Chooks, cooks and culinary culture. Sydney: UNSW Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixon, J., and C. Banwell. 2004. Reembedding trust: Unravelling the construction of modern diets. Critical Public Health 14: 117–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dixon, J., K. Donati, L. Pike, and L. Hattersley. 2009. Functional foods and urban agriculture: Two responses to climate change related food insecurity. NSW Public Health Bulletin 20 (1–2): 14–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong, F. 2006. The outlook for Asian dairy markets: The role of demographics, income, and prices. Food Policy 31: 260–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drewnowski, A. 2004. Obesity and the food environment: Dietary energy density and diet costs. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 27 (3, Supplement 1): 154–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DuPuis, M. 2002. Nature’s perfect food. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elinder, L. 2005. Obesity, hunger and agriculture: The damaging role of subsidies. British Medical Journal 331: 1333–1336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO Corporate Document Reposition. 2007. Thailand. http://www.fao.org/documents/Thailand. Accessed Feb 2007.

  • Fiddes, N. 1991. Meat: A natural symbol. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fieldhouse, P. 1995. Food and nutrition. Customs and culture. London: Chapman & Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischler, C. 1993. A nutritional cacophany or the crisis of food selection in affluent societies. In For a better nutrition in the 21st century, ed. P. Leathwood, M. Horisberger, and W. James, 57–65. New York, NY: Vevey/Raven Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fogel, R. 2004. The escape from hunger and premature death. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fold, N., and B. Pritchard. 2005. Introduction. In Cross-continental food chains, ed. N. Fold and B. Pritchard, 1–22. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 1985. FAO the first 40 years: 1945-85, 155 pp. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

  • Friedmann, H. 2005. From colonialism to green capitalism: Social movements and emergence of food regimes. In New directions in the sociology of global development, ed. F. Buttel and P. McMichael, 227–264. Oxford: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedmann, H., and P. McMichael. 1989. Agriculture and the state system. Sociologia Ruralis 39 (2): 93–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guthman, J., and M. DuPuis. 2006. Embodying neoliberalism: Economy, culture and the politics of fat. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 24: 427–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. 1984. The theory of communicative action, vol. 1. London: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, M., A. McMeekin, and A. Warde, eds. 2004. Qualities of food. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, C. 2006. Uneven dietary development: Linking the policies and processes of globalization with the nutrition transition, obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. Globalization and Health 2 (4): 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heasman, M., and J. Mellentin. 2001. The functional food revolution: Healthy people, healthy profits. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, M. 2005. Lifting the veil of secrecy from industry funding of nonprofit health organizations. International Journal of Occupational Environmental Health 11: 349–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. 2008. What is ‘Shokuiku (Food Education)’? http://www.maff.go.jp/. Accessed 1 June 2008.

  • Jebb, S. 2007. Dietary determinants of obesity. Obesity Reviews 8: 93–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, S., S. Moon, and B. Popkin. 2000. The nutrition transition in South Korea. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 71: 44–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lang, T. 2005. Food control or food democracy? Re-engaging nutrition with society and the environment. Public Health Nutrition 8 (6A): 730–737.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Law, J. 2002. Economics as interference. In Cultural economy, ed. P. du Gay and M. Pryke, 21–38. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, M., and J. Germov. 2008. Functional foods and public health nutrition policy. In A sociology of food and nutrition, ed. J. Germov and L. Williams, 147–175. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, M., and A. Robertson. 2007. Reference standards and guidelines. In Public health nutrition: From principles to practice, ed. M. Lawrence and T. Worsley, 39–70. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, M., and T. Worsley. 2007. Public health nutrition: From principles to practice. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leopold, M. 1985. The transnational food companies and their global strategies. International Journal of Social Science 37 (3): 315–330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levenstein, H. 1980. The New England Kitchen and the origins of Modern American eating habits. American Quarterly 32 (4): 369–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levenstein, H. 1993. Paradox of plenty. A social history of eating in modern America. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levenstein, H. 1996. The politics of nutrition in North America. Neuroscience and Behavioural Reviews 20 (1): 75–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKeown, T. 1979. The role of medicine. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMichael, A. 2005a. Integrating nutrition with ecology: Balancing the health of humans and biosphere. Public Health Nutrition 8 (6A): 706–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMichael, P. 2005b. Global development and the corporate food regime. In New directions in the sociology of global development, ed. F. Buttel and P. McMichael, 265–299. Oxford: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMichael, P. 1996. Development and social change. Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMichael, A., J. Powles, C. Butler, and R. Uauy. 2007. Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health. The Lancet 370 (9594): 1253–1263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendez, M., and B. Popkin. 2004. Globalization, urbanization and nutritional change in the developing world. Journal of Agricultural and Development Economics 1 (2): 220–241.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintz, S. 1985. Sweetness and power. New York: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintz, S. 1996. Tasting food, tasting freedom. Boston: Beacon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mudry, J. 2006. Quantifying an American eater: Early USDA food guidance, and a language of numbers. Food, Culture and Society 9 (1): 49–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nestle, M. 2002. Food politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. 2008. Promoting sustainable consumption: Good practice in OECD countries. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oresund Food Network and Oresund Environment Academy. 2008. Climate change and the food industry: Climate labelling for food products; Potential limitations. Kobenhavn S: Oresund Food Network and Oresund Environment Academy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pingali, P. 2006. Westernization of Asian diets and the transformation of food systems: Implications for research and policy. Food Policy 32: 281–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popkin, B. 1999. Urbanization, lifestyle changes and the nutrition transition. World Development 27 (11): 1905–1916.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popkin, B. 2003. The nutrition transition in the developing world. Development Policy Review 21 (5–6): 581–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popkin, B., A. Siega-Riz, P. Haines, and L. Johns. 2001. Where’s the fat? Trends in US diets 1965–1996. Preventive Medicine 32: 245–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porter, D. 1999. Health, civilization and the state. A history of public health from ancient to modern times. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pritchard, W. 1998. The emerging contours of the third food regime: Evidence from Australian dairy and wheat sectors. Economic Geography 74: 64–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pritchard, B., and D. Burch. 2003. Agri-food globalization in perspective: International restructuring in the processed tomato sector. Aldershot: Gower.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rae, A. 1997. Changing food consumption patterns in Easy Asia: Implications of the trend towards livestock products. Agribusiness 13: 33–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rozin, P. 2005. The meaning of food in our lives: A cross-cultural perspective on eating and well-being. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 37 (Suppl 2): S107–S112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scrinis, G. 2007. The emerging nano-corporate paradigm: Nanotechnology and the transformation of nature, food and agri-food systems. International Journal of Sociology of Food and Agriculture 15 (2): 22–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scrinis, G. 2008. Functional foods, functionally marketed foods? A critique of, and alternatives to, the category of ‘functional foods’. Public Health Nutrition 11 (5): 541–545.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seubsman, S.-A., J. Dixon, P. Suttinan, and C. Banwell. 2009. Thai meals. In Meals in science and practice: Interdisciplinary research and business applications, ed. H. Meiselman, 413–451. Oxford: Woodhead Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. 1998. The discourse of scientific knowledge of nutrition and dietary change in the twentieth century. In The nation’s diet, ed. A. Murcott, 311–331. London: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steckel, R. 2001. Industrialization and health in historical perspective. In Poverty, inequality, and health, ed. D. Leon and G. Walt, 37–57. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinfeld, H., P. Gerber, T. Wassenaar, V. Castel, M. Rosales, and C. de Haan. 2006. Livestock’s long shadow: Environmental issues and options. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thailand Ministry of Public Health. 2544. Nutrition Plan in the 9th National Economic and Social Development Plan (2545–2549), 29–47 (trans: P. Suttinan, 2007). Thailand: Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University.

  • Trichopoulou, A., and E. Vasilopoulou. 2000. Mediterranean diet and longevity. British Journal of Nutrition 84: S205–S209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ulijaszek, S. 2002. Human eating behaviour in an evolutionary ecological context. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 61: 517–526.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wald, N., and M. Law. 2003. A strategy to reduce cardiovascular disease by more than 80%. BMJ 326 (7404): 1419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, H., G. Cao, and R. Prior. 1996. Total antioxidant capacity of fruits. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 44: 701–705.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weis, T. 2007. The global food economy: The battle for the future of farming. London: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO. 2002. World health report. Reducing risks, promoting healthy life. Geneva: World Health Organisation.

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO/FAO. 2004. Global strategy on diet, physical activity and health. Geneva: World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. 2006. Repositioning nutrition as central to development: A strategy for large-scale action. Washington, DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yudkin, J. 1986. Pure, white and deadly, 2nd ed. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmermann, R., and M. Qaim. 2004. Potential health benefits of Golden Rice: A Philippine case study. Food Policy 29: 147–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Hugh Campbell and Phillip McMichael played highly significant roles in the shaping of this argument, and I also acknowledge an early contribution by Farshad Araghi. I am also grateful to P. Suttinan of the Sukothai Thammathirat Open University for translating the contents of the Thai government’s Nutrition Plans.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Building 62, Mills Road, Acton, ACT, 0200, Australia

    Jane Dixon

Authors
  1. Jane Dixon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jane Dixon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dixon, J. From the imperial to the empty calorie: how nutrition relations underpin food regime transitions. Agric Hum Values 26, 321–333 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-009-9217-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-009-9217-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation