An Overview of the Life Course Perspective: Implications for Health and Nutrition

The life course perspective is emerging as a powerful organizing framework for the study of health, illness, and mortality. The argument of this article is that the more explicit use of the life course perspective would enhance the already interdisciplinary approach to dietary and nutritional habits that nutrition educators apply to their practice. This article defines 7 major concepts used in applying the life course perspective: trajectories, transitions, turning points, culture and contextual influences, timing in lives, linked lives, and adaptive strategies. The utility of this perspective is demonstrated by the insights it brings to understanding the relationship between historical time, social context, and changes in population and group health and nutritional practices over time.