Several aspects of current
nutrition “knowledge” and the effects of nutrition on individual health, and
the public good, set a context for ethical “decisions” in nutrition which is
distinct from either the Public Health or Medical Ethics models.
These include (but may not be limited to):
A nutritional diagnosis is not “absolute” (this goes beyond
“misclassification”)
Nutrition acts on morbidity and
mortality as an “effect modifier” not a “cause”
Nutrition programs have a population
context
Nutritional issues in health are multi-factorial
(metabolic syndrome, obesity, etc.)
The effect (benefits, harms, to whom) of
Nutrition is in the “future”
Individually these aspects are not unique to nutrition, but
collectively they represent a distinct “nutritional context” for an examination
of Bio-Nutritional Ethics. Increasingly
over-laid on this context are developments in the field of Nutritional
Genomics. (Ethical considerations in
TPN, are for the present excluded here, as they fall under the rubric of a
medical treatment.)