Nutrition and public health in the history of societies

In terms of the sociology of food, the authors attempt to reveal the relationship between nutrition and health in the history of the development of primitive, ancient, medieval, capitalist, and contemporary societies. There are four major food revolutions in the history of mankind: the Paleolithic revolution (the transition to protein foods); the Neolithic revolution (the transition from hunting and gathering to the settled agriculture), the revolution of geographical discoveries in the 15th and 16th centuries (the distribution of American crops in Europe and Asia); the industrial food revolution (the transition to the industrial food and agriculture in the 20th century). The main research idea is that the improvement of nutrition practices in the history of mankind has steadily led to better public health and an increase in the life expectancy. However, at the present stage of the social development, unlike all previous stages, diseases of excess and malnutrition arise. A sociological research is based on the social and historical method which compares the main types of nutrition in different historical periods and their impact on public health. An empirical study is conducted by means of telephone interviews via CATI software in 2016-2017. It shows a representative sample of the main social and demographic indicators. Besides, the analysis of nutrition and public health is based on data provided by Federal Service of State Statistics and its department in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.