Two centuries after the concept of nutritional energy emerged, in the Western world today processes such as the application of increasingly advanced technologies in the manufacture of food and the use of biogenetic engineering in generating food resources have once again transformed the culture of nutrition. The work provides an update of the fundamental concepts of this discipline and an analysis of questions of profound interest, including among others the relationship between diet and cardiovascular disease, energy intake linked to physical activity and obesity, as well as the current nutritional situation in Europe. The book includes presentations and talks given at the conference organized by the BBV Foundation in 1993, Reflections on Current Knowledge in Human Nutrition.