NUTRITION TERMINOLOGY AS COMPONENTS OF BIOMEDICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

Unified terminology, functioning as a dynamic system of specialized terms, serves to reflect the latest advances in medical science and to represent the specific linguistic worldview of the physician nutritionist. The aim of this article is to examine nutrition terminology as an essential instrument of professional thinking and communication, as well as a component of the physician nutritionist’s linguistic worldview, and to determine its role in the conceptualization of biomedical knowledge related to healthy nutrition. To achieve this aim, the following objectives were pursued: to define the place of nutrition terminology among other types of specialized healthcare vocabulary; to characterize the main types of nutrition terms; to trace the development and enrichment of the nutrition terminology system in contemporary Ukrainian; and to clarify the role of specialized terminology in shaping the professional mindset and verbalizing the physician nutritionist’s linguistic worldview. The source base of the study comprises contemporary Ukrainian-language scholarly publications on nutrition, medical terminology, and cognitive linguistics (particularly conceptual metaphor theory), as well as specialized medical dictionaries. The object of the study is the terminology system of contemporary nutrition. The subject of the study is the structural, semantic, thematic, and cognitive characteristics of nutrition terms as linguistic means of representing the physician nutritionist’s linguistic worldview. The results of the study demonstrated that the terminology system of nutrition has evolved at the intersection of medicine, biochemistry, physiology, dietetics, gastroenterology, endocrinology, genetics, and public health. It was established that nutrition terms organize the physician nutritionist’s professional knowledge, facilitate the categorization of clinical phenomena, and perform a significative function. The study emphasizes that the physician’s linguistic worldview represents not only a body of specialized knowledge but also a system of professional values oriented toward evidence-based medicine, a personalized approach to patient care, and the preventive orientation of medical practice. Nutrition science terms function as verbal markers of this knowledge system, reflecting current trends in medical science and the growing social demand for a healthy lifestyle. The principal thematic groups of terms have been analyzed, including the names of nutrients, biologically active compounds, metabolic processes, dietary patterns, functional foods, nutrition-related pathological conditions, and methods of nutritional status assessment. The study also demonstrates that the development of contemporary Ukrainian nutrition science terminology is significantly influenced by English-language scientific discourse, highlighting the need to standardize Ukrainian equivalents and systematize the branch-specific terminology. Conclusions. Nutrition science terms constitute important verbal representations of the physician’s linguistic worldview, as they reflect contemporary scientific knowledge about the interrelationship between nutrition, metabolism, and health, shape professional thinking, and ensure effective professional communication. Further research should focus on a comprehensive linguocognitive analysis of the Ukrainian terminology of nutrition science, the processes of its standardization, and the peculiarities of its functioning in contemporary medical discourse.