Nutrition and Health: from Science to Practice Statement and Awarded posters

As the scientific coordinator of EGEA and of this newsletter, I am delighted to dedicate this edition of GFVN to the EGEA conference, which took place in Lyon from 7-9 November, 2018. This 8th EGEA conference, entitled “Nutrition & health: from science to practice”, was co-chaired by professors Martine Laville and Elio Riboli, and formed part of Europe’s three year (2018-2020) “FRUIT&VEG 4 HEALTH” program, which is co-financed by the European Union.

The aim of this programme is to improve health through better dietary practices and policies that ensure adequate consumption of fruit and vegetables. EGEA 2018 gathered together 54 international multidisciplinary speakers and over 300 participants – scientists, health professionals, policy makers, representatives of civil society and professionals from fruit and vegetables sector – coming from 30 different countries.

We are both delighted and proud that the European commissioners for agriculture and health, Vytenis Andrukytis and Phil Hogan, jointly wrote the preface to the booklet given to all those who attended EGEA 2018. They consider EGEA as “an initiative which, by bringing together all the stakeholders involved, is facilitating the discussion on how to keep our agriculture sustainable, our food nutritious and safe and our population healthy.”

These three days of multidisciplinary discussions made it possible to take stock of current knowledge about diet and the prevention of chronic disease; to identify key ways for doctors so that they allocate more time to prevention in their practice, and finally to strengthen broader recommendations so that the food system become healthier and more sustainable.

In this edition of GFVN, our readers will find:

• the “EGEA 2018 Statement”, which presents some practical ideas intended to encourage and promote a healthy, sustainable diet, rich in fruit and vegetables,
• the 3 awarded EGEA posters from amongst the 47 submitted.I would also like to thank the EGEA Scientific Committee, the speakers, all those who attended, and, in particular, the French and European associations of general practitioners/family doctors, paediatricians, cardiologists and dieticians, who took an active part in EGEA and helped to prepare practical, scientifically based recommendations concerning healthy lifestyle, i.e. a healthy diet and regular physical activity, suitably adapted to each stage of life. These recommendations will be based on those presented by the conference speakers and will be sent to doctors, in the form of information sheets, over the next 2 years, to help them give their patients dietary advice.