"It is our privilege to offer you the 8th edition of 'Nutrition Through the Life Cycle'. This text was initially developed, and has been revised, to address the needs of instructors teaching, and students taking, a two- or four-credit course in life-cycle nutrition. It is written at a level that assumes students have taken an introductory nutrition course. Overall, the text is intended to give instructors a tool they can productively use to enhance their teaching efforts, and to give students an engaging and rewarding educational experience they will carry with them throughout their lives and careers. The authors of 'Nutrition Through the Life Cycle' represent a group of experts with experience in clinical practice, teaching, and research related to nutrition during specific phases of the life cycle. All of us remain totally dedicated to the goals established for the text at its conception: to make the text comprehensive, logically organized, evidence-based, realistic, and relevant to the needs of instructors and students. Chapter 1 summarizes key elements of introductory nutrition and gives students a chance to update or renew their knowledge. Students can test their knowledge of many aspects of introductory nutrition by answering the review questions listed at the end of the chapter. Coverage of the life-cycle phases begins with preconception nutrition and continues with each major phase of the life cycle through adulthood and the needs of older adults. Each of these 19 chapters was developed based on a common organizational framework that includes learning objectives, prevalence statistics, physiological principles, nutritional needs and recommendations, model programs, case studies, and recommended practices. Chapters end with a list of key points and review questions. To meet the needs of students with a variety of career goals represented in many life-cycle nutrition courses, we include two chapters for each life-cycle phase. The first chapter for each phase c