THE HISTORY OF CLINICAL NUTRITION, OR THE STUDY OF THE RELA...
EXERCISE 4
The history of clinical nutrition, or the study of the relationship between health and how the body
takes in and utilizes food substances, can be divided into four distinct eras: the first began in
the nineteenth century and extended into the early twentieth century when it was recognized
for the first time that food contained constituents that were essential for human function and that
different foods provided different amounts of these essential agents. Near the end of this era,
research studies demonstrated that rapid weight loss was associated with nitrogen imbalance
and could only be rectified by providing adequate dietary protein associated with certain foods.
The second era was initiated in the early decades of the twentieth century and might be called
"the vitamin period. "Vitamins came to be recognized in foods, and deficiency syndromes were
described. As vitamins became recognized as essential food constituents necessary for health,
it became tempting to suggest that every disease and condition for which there had been no
previous effective treatment might be responsive to vitamin therapy. At that point in time,
medical schools started to become more interested in having their curricula integrate nutritional
concepts into the basic sciences. Much of the focus of this education was on the recognition of
deficiency symptoms. Herein lay the beginning of what ultimately turned from ignorance to
denial of the value of nutritional therapies in medicine. Reckless claims were made for effects
of vitamins that went far beyond what could actually be achieved from the use of them.
In the third era of nutritional history in the early 1950's to mid-1960's, vitamin therapy began to
fall into disrepute. Concomitant with this, nutrition education in medical schools also became
less popular. It was just a decade before this that many drug companies had found their
vitamin sales skyrocketing and were quick to supply practicing physicians with generous
samples of vitamins and literature extolling the virtue of supplementation for a variety of health-
related conditions. Expectations as to the success of vitamins in disease control were
exaggerated. As is known in retrospect, vitamin and mineral therapies are much less effective
when applied to health-crisis conditions than when applied to long-term problems of under
nutrition that lead to chronic health problems.
Questions
Question 1: What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. The stages of development of clinical nutrition as a field of study
B. The effects of vitamins on the human body
C. Nutritional practices of the nineteenth century
D. The history of food preferences from the nineteenth century to the present
Question 2: It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following discoveries was
made during the first era in the history of nutrition?
A. Effective techniques of weight loss were determined.
B. Vitamins were synthesized from foods.
C. Certain foods were found to be harmful to good health.
D. Protein was recognized as an essential component of diet.
Question 3: The word “tempting” is closest in meaning to ...
A. realistic B. attractive C. correct D. necessary
Question 4: It can be inferred from the passage that medical schools began to teach concepts
of nutrition in order to .
A. encourage medical doctors to apply concepts of nutrition in the treatment of disease
B. convince medical doctors to participate in research studies on nutrition
C. convince doctors to conduct experimental vitamin therapies on their patients
D. support the creation of artificial vitamins
Question 5: The word “Reckless” is closest in meaning to ...
A. informative B. recorded C. irresponsible D. urgent
Question 6: The word “them” refers to ...
A. therapies B. vitamins C. effects D. claims
Question 7: Why did vitamin therapy begin losing favor in the 1950's?
A. The public lost interest in vitamins
B. Nutritional research was of poor quality
C. Claims for the effectiveness of vitamin therapy were seen to be exaggerated.
D. Medical schools stopped teaching nutritional concepts
Question 8: The phrase “concomitant with” is closest in meaning to ...
A. in regard to
B. in dispute with
C. prior to
D. in conjunction with
Question 9: The word "skyrocketing" is closest in meaning to ...
A. surprising B. increasing rapidly
C. acceptable D. internationally popular
Question 10: The paragraph following the passage most probably discusses ...
A. problems associated with undernutrition
B. why nutrition education lost its appeal
C. the fourth era of nutrition history
D. how drug companies became successful