The third meeting of the European Platform on Diet, Nutrition and Physical Activity included a morning session focused on the Platform activities and an afternoon session on the reformulation of foods organised by the UK Presidency.
Plenary meeting of the Platform
Robert Madelin, Director General of the European Commission’s DG Sanco, chaired and opened the plenary meeting of the Platform.
Following his introduction, the floor was given to several representatives of DG Research. Mr Christian Patermann outlined the objectives of the 6th and 7th Framework Programme to support action to face the obesity challenge. Mr Patermann mentioned projects that study breastfeeding, factors that influence food choice, reduction of fat in processed and novel foods. Mr Patermann also mentioned the Technology Platforms that DG Research is setting up to bring together stakeholders, he specially mentioned the "Food For Life" Platform, led by the food industry.
Afterwards, Ms Nathalie Vercruysse presented some data about the diabesity epidemic, insisting on the role of research and sustainable development. Ms Isabelle de Froidmonth-Goertz listed several successful projects in FP5 and FP6.
Several representatives from ongoing projects funded by the Framework Programme presented the main objectives of their projects.
Dr Sadaf Farooqi presented a project carried out by CIMR (Cambridge University, UK) and funded by FP6. The aims of the project are to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying human obesity and insulin resistance with the ultimate goal of improvement, prevention and treatment of these common human disorders.
The DIOGENES project, presented by Dr Wim Saris, aims to identify the genes - nutrient interaction linked with changes in body weight and waist circumference. The project started in 2004 and aims to study dietary, genetic, behavioural and physiological factors.
The HELENA project, presented by Dr Anthony Kafatos, aims to understand and effectively enhance nutritional and lifestyle habits of adolescents in Europe.
After the presentations, DG Sanco gave a report from each working group of the Platform (healthy lifestyles, informing consumer behaviour and monitoring). They announced that a special folder would be posted on the Circa website of the Commission to submit suggestions for the next working group meetings.
Reformulation of food workshops
Dame Deidre Hutton, Chair of the Food Standards Agency of the UK, opened the afternoon session.
The first session focused on salt reduction and included two presentations by the UK Food Standards Agency and Heinz. Then the group split into three: reformulating foods to reduce fats, reformulating foods to reduce sugars and other means such as reducing portion sizes, catering.
The conclusions of the sessions can be summarized like this:
more choice is needed,
the promotion of fruit and vegetables and products that are lower in fat, sugar and salt is desirable, but health claims need to be respected,
information and education campaigns need to focus on younger people,
there needs to be cooperation between governments, industry, health professionals and consumers.
