Interactive Systems in Nutrition: Perspectives from Epidemiology, Veterinary Science, Nutrition, Anthropology, and Community Health

Nutrition is a complex and multifaceted influencer of health. Everything we consume, from a sip of water, to those green beans from a community garden, to that egg you had for breakfast are components of nutrition. But what are the factors that influence your nutrition, and in turn your health? Consider every choice you make around what you eat. You probably consider personal preference and nutritional value of the food, but what determines the food available to eat? And what determines your ability to access that food? It turns out that nutrition is influenced by a constellation of factors that exist within a dynamic and interacting system. In this chapter, we consider three broad components of this system, land, food, and the body, in the context of child malnutrition.