The role of the British
Nutrition Foundation
Sara Stanner and
Roy Ballam
Aim and structure of the Foundation
The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) was
set up in 1967 as an independent organisation
to stimulate research and education in the
field of nutrition. Its current aim is to
promote the nutritional wellbeing of society
through the impartial and effective
dissemination of scientifically-based
nutritional knowledge and advice. It works in
partnership with academic and research
institutes, the food industry, educators and
government.
The Foundation is an independent
registered charity, which raises funds from the
food industry, government and other sources.
There are currently16 members of staff, most
of whom are trained in nutrition, dietetics
and/or teaching and have experience in a wide
range of areas including communication,
research and administration. The
Foundation's Council, Editorial and
Scientific Committees and Education
AdvisoryGroups include a number of
distinguished scientists and educationalists
who continuallyadvise on the qualityof its
work and guarantee the Foundation's
independence and accountability.
Communicating consistent messages to
the general public
The BNF offers an enquiryservice for
consumers and members of the general public
and has a number of fact sheets on various
nutrition and food related topics. However,
the majorityof people todayget most of their
information about diet and health through the
media, and while some media items are well-
reported and contain expert quotes from
reputable scientists, at the other end of the
spectrum are stories based purelyon fiction
that are misleading, unhelpful and confusing
for the public. In order to encourage accurate
reporting, the BNF's team of nutrition
scientists are happyto provide independent,
informed comment on current nutritional
issues or provide quotes for news stories, write
articles and check text. Theyare also available
to provide expert comment on radio and
television programmes concerned with topical
nutritional matters.
The authors
Sara Stanner is Senior Nutrition Scientist and
Roy Ballam is Senior Education Officer, both at the
British Nutrition Foundation, UK.
Keywords
Nutrition, Diet, Education, Dissemination
Abstract
This article provides a brief overview of the role of the
British Nutrition Foundation (BNF). The Foundation is a
charity set up in 1967 with the aim of promoting nutritional
wellbeing by disseminating accurate information about diet
and health. Unfortunately, many of the messages that the
general public receive about diet and health are inconsistent
and as such do not enable them to make positive changes
to their dietary behaviour. The premature reporting of
scientific findings in the media, particularly when these
conflict with previous research, contributes to the confused
messages and encourages the common perception of
disagreement among scientists. The findings of any single
study are unlikely to provide convincing evidence and any
new research needs to be interpreted in the light of
previous reports and any discrepancies addressed. One of
the key roles of the Foundation is to independently review
the totality of the evidence, to make a judgement about
various dietary issues and to interpret the science in a
format suitable for different audiences. Current work
includes the provision of training and resources for teachers
and health professionals and an information and
consultancy service for consumers, the media, government
and the food industry. Much of its work also involves
producing literature and running conferences to disseminate
up-to-date information about various nutritional topics to
health professionals both in the UK and across Europe.
Electronic access
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65
Nutrition & Food Science
Volume 33
.
Number 2
.
2003
.
pp. 65-67
# MCB UP Limited
.
ISSN 0034-6659
DOI 10.1108/00346650310466646