Public Health Nutrition (PHN) is dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of populations through sustainable improvements to the food and nutrition system. In April 2017, the topic was anchored in a professorship at Paderborn University for the first time (Head: Prof Dr Anette Buyken)

The overarching research focus of the PHN field is research into the primary preventive potential of nutrition for the development of diet-related diseases. In order to utilise the short- and long-term preventive potential of nutrition for physical and mental health, an evidence-based research approach is required that includes both the analysis of potential risk factors and determinants as well as the development and evaluation of suitable preventive measures. The PHN field will therefore conduct epidemiological research using existing data (analyses and systematic reviews) as well as targeted studies on the short-term effects of meals on relevant health parameters (e.g. blood glucose response, cognition). This will be followed by research projects in the school setting. Setting approaches take into account the "living environment" of people, i.e. the respective framework conditions in which people live, learn and eat. Health promotion in the setting is therefore a holistic approach and recognises health problems as the result of an interaction between personal lifestyle and the environment.

In teaching, the PHN field coordinates the newly established degree programme "Teaching at grammar schools and comprehensive schools with Nutrition Science as a subject". A particular concern of the group is to sensitise future teachers to the possibilities of relationship prevention in their own setting and to encourage them to develop corresponding initiatives together with pupils in the future.