In Korea, during 1940s, nutrition was mainly taught in the Home Economics departments of women's colleges. The only three women's colleges in Korea at that time were Ewha Women's College, Sook Myoung Women's College, and the National Women's Teachers College. After the colleges became 4-year universities, nutrition continued to be taught in the College of Home Economics. With this start, nutrition in Korea has become a field of women, and symposiums or seminars by the Korean Nutrition Society, the Korean Society of Community Nutrition, or the Korean Dietetic Association are attended primarily by women even at the present time.

After Korea regained its independence in 1945, while General Nutrition continued to be taught in the Home Economics, Biochemical Nutrition was taught in College of Pharmacy and College of Agriculture, and Biochemistry was taught in College of Medicine. Contents of the nutrition courses were mostly devoted to nutrients and their metabolisms, therefore, the scope of nutrition was relatively limited to classrooms and research laboratories in universities without spreading into the lives of people. Nutrition courses did not include areas needed to promote healthy dietary habits, such as nutrition education, to facilitate extension of knowledge, changes of attitude, and changes of behavior. The Korean Journal of Nutrition, the major scholarly journal in nutrition in Korea during the early years, also focused on publishing research papers of animal experiments, human metabolism, and food analysis, resulting in only a few applied nutrition research papers having been published.

In 1963, FAO, WHO, and UNICEF jointly opened a new and pioneering program under the innovative name of International Course of Applied Nutrition in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to train specialists who would lead Applied Nutrition Programs (ANP) promoting nutrition and health among people in underdeveloped and developing countries. The United Nations established the new program in the London School because the UK had global knowledge in nutrition and health accumulated from its colonial era, expanding to Africa, Middle East, India, Asia, and Latin America.

The United Nations Development Plan in each nation selected specialists who had potential influence and ability to lead the ANP through the open nomination process. The chosen specialists were sent to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Each nation was allowed to send one specialist per year for five years. The selected specialists' expertise was diverse from nutrition, agriculture, food technology, medicine, to education. The author was sent as a chosen specialist in the first selection year, followed by Dr. Bun Suk Tchai of the Medical School of Seoul National University, Ms. Jun Gyo Park of the Office of Rural Development, and Dr. Cheol Son of Chonnam National University Medical School.

The education and training from the International Course of Applied Nutrition in the London School was solidified with more hands on training in Nigeria, Africa. The training in the National University of Nigeria included topics such as nutrition assessment and nutrition education, followed by the Maternal and Child Health training in pediatric hospitals and local health centers.

The three chosen specialists mentioned above were actively involved in the development of ANP of Korea. Therefore, the innovative UN program left a significant impact in development of Applied Nutrition in Korea.

When Korea was an impoverished agricultural country, the UN agency-supported ANP was established and effectively conducted. With economic development, urbanization, and industrialization happening in Korea, the rural-focusing ANP was re-born to a more extended version with the name of "Community Nutrition," targeting the entire Korean population as a field of research and projects.

One of the distinctive characteristics of Community Nutrition would be recognizing that the nutrition and health of individuals are not entirely determined by individuals. That is, nutrition and health has become a problem of a society or community from the problems of individuals. Therefore, the objectives of Community Nutrition are not only to promote individual health, but also to confront and solve health problems at the community levels ranging from a local community to a nation, and to the world. Community Nutrition should tackle the following problems for health promotion for all (Table 1).

Many professionals with expertise in Community Nutrition and its related areas are actively working in various areas in Korea. Further development of Community Nutrition will come from productive collaboration among the many professionals from universities, research centers, hospitals, public health centers, social welfare institutes and government agencies.

After Korea regained her independence in 1945, the Nutrition Society, more of a social network of researchers than a formal scholarly association, was formed by nutrition researchers including Dr. Ho Jik Kim in the Department of Home Economics of Ewha Women's University, Dr. Ki Young Lee in the Department of Biochemistry of the College of Medicine, and Dr. Ho Shik Kim in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry of the College of Agriculture, Seoul National University. This society functioned as a window to international nutrition societies until 1966. With the establishment of the Korean Nutrition Society in 1967, many associations such as the Korean Society of Food Science and the Korean Society of Food Culture were created. At the same time, many professionals specializing in food and nutrition were educated and trained. In 1995, the Korean Society of Community Nutrition (KSCN) opened its door for answering the demands to better translate scientific knowledge into practice and to a better connection between nutrition and health promotion, helped by enhanced capabilities of community nutritionists. Coincidently, the Health Promotion Law was passed during the time of KSCN's establishment, and it highlighted the national needs and roles of community nutrition.

The KSCN works in six areas:

The KSCN annually offers national and/or international conferences and co-hosts symposiums with other associations to encourage and advance community nutrition research and projects to reduce health disparity and to promote better nutrition and health. The KSCN's efforts are summarized in Table 2.

Publication of this new Journal, "Nutrition Research and Practice", is one step forward to bring a better connection between so-called "Bench" Nutritional Science and Community Nutrition. Readers of this journal would be able to acquire knowledge of both areas and bring forward their ideas in the total spectrum of nutrition. I congratulate the publication of Nutrition Research and Practice and look forward to seeing this journal become the beginning of another new and great era of nutrition.