biology

The Nutrition Society

The Nutrition Society is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Nutrition Society rather than just read about it. In short: The Nutrition Society is a main scientific learned society in the field of nutritional science, whose headquarters are in London. History It was founded in 1941.

Key takeaways

The Nutrition Society belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Nutrition Society to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Nutrition Society from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Nutrition Society is a main scientific learned society in the field of nutritional science, whose headquarters are in London.

History It was founded in 1941. On Tuesday 14 October 1941, a founding meeting was held at the Royal Institution led by Sir John Boyd Orr who served as its founding chairman. Orr was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to nutrition and his role in setting up the Food and Agriculture Organization at the United Nations. In April 1943, an oversight Advisory Committee on Nutrition Surveys was set up, overseen by Sir Joseph Barcroft, and supported by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Food. The Nutrition Society was incorporated as a company in August 1976. In 1993, a database was set up, with the Institute of Biology, of registered nutritionists. The register for nutritionists was divested as the Association for Nutrition.

Leadership Mark Hollingsworth is the CEO of The Nutrition Society, a position he has held since July 2014. Mary Ward, Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE) at the School of Biomedical Sciences, Ulster University, became the Society's President in July 2023, following the tenure of Julie Lovegrove, the Hugh Sinclair Professor of Nutrition at the University of Reading, who served as President from 2018 to 2023.

Members The Nutrition Society has approximately 2300 members in 80 countries. Becoming a member is open to those interested in human or animal nutrition, with no specific qualifications required. The society offers student membership, university group membership, early career membership, full membership, retired membership, and unwaged membership.

Structure

Sections The Nutrition Society has the following sections:

Irish Section to host research meetings and conferences in Ireland Scottish Section to host research meetings and conferences in Scotland Student Section to support undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate student members, enabling them to connect with experienced researchers and practitioners for mentorship and resources

Themes and Special Interest Groups The Nutrition Society has special interest groups in four themes in nutrition science:

Food Systems Nutrition in the treatment, management, and prevention of disease Nutrition and optimum life course Novel nutrition research methodologies and technologies

Fellows The Nutrition Society awards honorary fellowship for outstanding contribution and long term commitment to nutritional science. The honorary fellows are: Sir George Alberti, Margaret Ashwell, Judith Buttriss, Albert Flynn, Keith Frayn, Catherine Geissler, Michael Gibney, Leif Hambraeus, Jo Hautvast, Alan A Jackson, W Philip James, Barbara Livingstone, John Mathers, Geraldine McNeill, D Joe Millward, Hilary J Powers, Ann Prentice, Sean Strain, Alison E Tedstone, Paul Trayhurn, Mark L. Wahlqvist, John F. Webster, Roger G. Whitehead, Christine Williams, Margaret Gill, Clyde Williams, and Chris Seal.

Activities The Nutrition Society mission is to advance the scientific study of nutrition and its application to the maintenance of human and animal health.

Conferences The Nutrition Society hosts six conferences each year.

Winter Conference Summer Conference Irish Section Conference Scottish Section Conference Irish Section Postgraduate Conference Nutrition Futures

Partnerships and Collaborations The Nutrition Society advocates for the importance of nutritional research and its application in the maintenance of human and animal health. The society serves as the secretariat for the International Union of Nutrition Sciences (IUNS), the Federation of European Nutrition Societies (FENS), and the Academy of Nutritional Sciences In the United Kingdom, the society has established an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) entitled Nutrition: Science and Health. Formally launched at its inaugural meeting on 6 June 2023, the APPG includes interested MPs and members of the House of Lords as founding members. Through this initiative, the society ensures that nutritional research is represented and considered in the UK parliament and reinforcing the importance of this field in shaping public policy.

Awards and Grants The Nutrition Society offers the following awards to recognize excellence and expertise in the field of nutrition research.

Blaxter award for excellence in the area of whole body metabolism or animal nutrition Widdowson award for excellence in public health nutrition Gowland Hopkins award for lifetime achievement in cellular and molecular nutrition Julie Wallace award for early career scientific excellence in nutrition research Cuthbertson award for early career excellence in clinical nutrition and metabolism research Silver medal for scientific excellence in the field of nutrition Postgraduate competition award for excellence in nutrition related work at postgraduate level The society offers summer studentships to undergraduates to undertake research and conference grants to members to present research and attend conferences.

Publications

Journals The following journals are published by the Nutrition Society:

The British Journal of Nutrition Public Health Nutrition The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society Nutrition Research Reviews Journal of Nutritional Science Gut Microbiome

Books The following text books on nutrition are published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Nutrition Society.

Nutrition Research Methodologies Introduction to Human Nutrition, 3rd Edition Nutrition and Metabolism, 2nd Edition Public Health Nutrition, 2nd Edition Sport and Exercise Nutrition Clinical Nutrition, 2nd Edition

See also American Society for Nutrition Association for Nutrition, regulates the profession in the UK British Nutrition Foundation, provides health education on diet in the UK Federation of European Nutrition Societies Catherine Geissler, former president of the Nutrition Society

References

External links The Nutrition Society

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Nutrition Society

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Nutrition Society claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Nutrition Society before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Nutrition Society ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Nutrition Society

In research: The Nutrition Society appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Nutrition Society in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Nutrition Society is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1941 establishments in the United Kingdom, Association for Nutrition, British biology societies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Nutrition Society outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Nutrition Society in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Nutrition Society means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Nutrition Society out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Nutrition Society in simple terms?

The Nutrition Society is a main scientific learned society in the field of nutritional science, whose headquarters are in London. History It was founded in 1941.

Why does The Nutrition Society matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Nutrition Society?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Nutrition Society.