Book Review George C. Davis and Elena L. Serrano. Food and Nutrition Economics: Fundamentals for Health Science. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. $53.00. pp. 288. Hardcover. ISBN: 9780199379118

• Published date: 01 June 2018
• Date: 01 June 2018
• Author: Lisa Pawloski
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.265

Book Review

George C. Davis and Elena L. Serrano. Food and Nutrition Economics: Fundamentals

for Health Science. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. $53.00. pp. 288.

Hardcover. ISBN: 9780199379118

Food and Nutrition Economics: Fundamentals for Health Science is co-written by

two professors from Virginia Tech University: George C. Davis, an economist,

and Elena L. Serrano, a nutritionist. Both Davis and Serrano have signif‌icant

interdisciplinary experience and evidently recognized the demand for such a text

from the larger health science audience, particularly those within nutrition,

agricultural science, food science, and economics. At f‌irst glance, the book

appears primarily designed for an undergraduate university audience; however,

it is also useful for well-established researchers who have little or no background

in either nutrition or economics. The book presents introductory to advanced

concepts of both nutrition and economics in a well-organized manner. While each

chapter builds upon the previous chapters’ concepts, readers are not required to

read the earlier chapters to understand the rest of the book.

Food and Nutrition Economics brings together two complex disciplines, which

may not be an obvious pairing to some. But, such a link becomes quite clear after

reading the entire book, particularly with its use of multiple, real-world examples.

Because most of the curriculum for nutrition students focuses on interactions of

nutrients, food, and the human body, as well as the inf‌luence of social

determinants of health on food and nutrition, rarely are economic concepts and

principles included. One might imagine that nutrition concepts are brought into

the economics classroom even more rarely, and then only as the occasional case

study or example.

Within the discipline of nutrition, economic literature is often used to explain

trends and make predictions, but the detailed principles of how such research is

done, and its f‌indings analyzed, are typically overlooked. Obesity and other

nutritional issues are now realized to be multifaceted in their causes; a book such

as this is necessary to provide a basic understanding of two central disciplines

and their relation to food and diet. Further, just as having some background in

physiology and anatomy is helpful to understanding the interaction between food

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2018

211

doi: 10.1002/wmh3.265

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