Originally published in 1979, this book presents a coherent body of information on the inter-relation between nutrition, health and disease in its social context. The first section deals with undernutrition. The socio-cultural and economic factors underlying the deficiency diseases are discussed as well as the diseases themselves and the precise role of nutrition in their genesis. The problems of abundance are largely those of obesity, atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes and cancer and these are the main topics considered in Chapter 2. This chapter also discusses and evaluates the evidence for incriminating fibre deficiency in certain conditions. The final chapter gives accounts of the links between the immune defence system and nutrition.