Professor Brownell reviews public health as a profession and explains how it provides a different framework, compared to the traditional medical approach, for tracking diseases and trying to prevent them. Specifically, he explains how public health focuses on community/population (vs. the individual) and prevention (vs. treatment) and discusses which may be better for addressing problems of diet. He provides examples of how different forms of prevention (primary, secondary, tertiary) and the epidemiologic triad are utilized to address disease in public health. Professor Brownell also highlights the importance of science and a public understanding of relevant issues such as standards of proof and various methodologies used in scientific studies.

Reading assignment:

Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, Section I, chapters 3 and 4 (pp. 32-40)