On 26-29 October 2011, nutrition experts will gather at the FENS European Nutrition Conference in Madrid. Under the slogan “Diversity versus Globalization: A Nutritional Challenge for a Changing Europe”, the conference will analyse the nutritional and lifestyle problems of the entire resident population in Europe.

According to Professor Ascensión Marcos, President of the 11th European Nutrition Conference (FENS) and Head of the Immunonutrition Research Group in the Department of Metabolism & Nutrition in the Institute of Food Science and Technology and Nutrition at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), "the European challenge is to achieve free access to healthy diets, but above all, to appropriate education on nutrition in the context of Europe living in a continuous change resulting from migration”.

Among the more than 200 lectures and 130 oral communications analysing the best nutrition and lifestyle guidelines in Europe, EURRECA will hold the session “Nutrition in Special Situations – European Recommendations Aligned, How Do We (EURRECA) Realise This?”

Chairing the session will be Professor Luis Moreno of the University of Zaragoza and co-chair, Dr. Laura Contor, from ILSI Europe. The session will include the following presentations:

“General overview methodology used in EURRECA”
Speaker: Prof. Lisette de Groot
Division of Human Nutrition & Epidemiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Working towards the identification and development of methodologies to standardise the process of setting micronutrient recommendations, this study assesses the evidence available that is required for deriving micronutrient requirements using the association and factorial approach.

“Use of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in setting requirements”
Speaker: Prof. Pieter Van´t Veer
Division of Human Nutrition & Epidemiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
A study illustrating the methods EURRECA is developing for the quantitative integration of evidence for deriving nutrient requirements.

“Setting requirements in young populations”
Speaker: Prof. Berthold Koletzko
Division of Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine, Dr von Hauner Children's Hospital Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany.
A lack of adequate research data often results in the use of extrapolation and interpolation methods for deriving age specific nutrient intake values (NIVS). This paper considers the use and impact of such methods and priorities for future research.

“What role does bioavailability play in setting dietary requirements?”
Speaker: Prof. Susan Fairweather-Tait
Department of Nutrition, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Bioavailability factors can be used to convert physiological requirements into dietary intakes. Systematic reviews were undertaken for iron and zinc, establishing the evidence base for modulators of absorption (a surrogate marker for bioavailability). The results of the analyses, and their implications for establishing ‘bioavailability factors’ will be presented.

Click here for more information about EURRECA activities at the conference.

For further information about 11th FENS European Nutrition Conference visit http://www.fensmadrid2011.com/.

The Eurreca Network of Excelence is funded by the European Commision and co-ordinated by ILSI Europe Contract Number FP6-036196-2(FOOD) Disclaimer Notice Copyright Notice Privacy Notice