It was founded in 1982 and is the official journal of the British Dietetic Association (BDA).

The BDA had considered establishing a journal in its early days in the late 1930s but the outbreak of the Second World War halted plans.

Alison Black oversaw the creation of the new journal in the early 1980s.

The journal is published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the British Dietetic Association.

Past editors were Pat Judd, Jane Thomas, Joan Gandy, Ailsa Brotherton and Simon Langley-Evans.