Why combine diet and physical activity in the same international research society?
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BioMed Central
Open Access
Commentary
Why combine diet and physical activity in the same international research society? Tom Baranowski* Address: Department of Pediatrics, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030-2600, USA Email: Tom Baranowski* - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 03 February 2004 International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2004, 1:2
Received: 12 January 2004 Accepted: 03 February 2004
This article is available from: http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/1/1/2 © 2004 Baranowski; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
Abstract Research in diet and physical activity in the U.S. started in very different traditions, with behavioral science input being uneven in their development. Investigators and policy makers in Europe have recognized the complementarity of diet and physical activity and incorporated them both under the label Public Health Nutrition. Joining these disciplines internationally offers the opportunity to benefit all, since the problems addressed are human, not specific to any one country. In regard to why combine diet and physical activity, at the biological level, there is reason to believe that diet and physical activity working in concert can remodel physiological structures and processes toward healthful ends. The diet and physical activity behaviors themselves vary in characteristics and are similar in others. The behavioral science components of these two disciplines face similar problems, and can learn from the advances made by the other, in the areas of measurement, correlates and intervention. By working together, knowledge will be enhanced from uncovering complementary and interactive relationships between diet and physical activity, and in relation to disease risks, that may result in designing more effective and efficient interventions and policies. Since the behavioral sciences are at a disadvantage in comparison to the biological sciences in terms of scientific advances and thereby capturing the popular imagination for solutions to health problems, we must redouble our efforts to enhance funding for behavioral research in regard to diet and physical activity and to make the research advances necessary to prevent the medicalizing of essentially social and behavioral problems. Nutrition and physical activity should most effectively do this together.
Introduction The International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) aspires to be truly international and combine the efforts, expertise and insights from the behavioral oriented professionals in two formerly disparate professional domains: diet (or nutrition) and physical activity (PA) (or exercise). Two issues are addressed: Why should this society be "International"?
and Why combine diet and physical activity? These issues are
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