The second and final day of the Joint IUNS & FENS Scientific Webinar was filled with insightful discussions on translating research into actionable policies and interventions. With a highly engaged audience of over 130 participants, Day 2 provided valuable perspectives on tackling global nutrition challenges through policy changes and evidence-based strategies.
Key Highlights from Day 2
Opening Remarks & Wrap-Up of Day 1
The day began with Jacques Delarue (IUNS/FENS/SFN, France) setting the stage for today.
Session 1: Policy-Level Actions and Interventions
Bruce Neal (The George Institute for Global Health, Australia) presented on dietary sodium reduction strategies, emphasizing the shift from policies focused on cutting sodium to switch to potassium enriched salt for improved health outcomes.
María José Yusta Boyo (AESAN, Spain) shared the food reformulation initiatives in Spain as a crucial tool to enhance dietary quality and promote healthier food environments.
Samuel Atilio Duran Aguero (San Sebastian University, Chile) shared Chile’s pioneering experience in front-of-pack food labelling targeting children and the reformulation of food products to reduce sugar, salt and saturated fats, highlighting both its successes over the last 10 years and areas for improvement.
Jennifer Macdiarmid (University of Aberdeen, UK) discussed the progress and challenges in achieving sustainable diets, shedding light on the balance between making changes across the food system to reduce the environmental impact and nutrition and public health.
Amos Laar (University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana) focused on leveraging food environment research to drive evidence-based advocacy and how this leads to demand for healthy food-based policies and interventions aimed at addressing diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa.
Session 2: Sharing of Experiences
After a brief break, the second session showcased real-world examples of successful nutrition policies and strategies from various regions.
Visaratana Therakomen (Ministry of Public Health, Thailand) shared insights on Thailand’s National Nutrition Policy, emphasizing long-term sustainability, education and national health priorities.
Bryndís Eva Birgisdóttir, Birna Thorisdottir (University of Iceland), and Suvi T. Itkonen (University of Helsinki, Finland) provided an overview of nutrition-related food policies in the Nordic countries, detailing their approaches to fostering healthier dietary habits through government interventions and the successes and challenges involved in
Final Round Table: Data Quality & Quality of Evidence
The webinar concluded with a highly engaging round table discussion moderated by Philip Calder (FENS) and Sladjana Sobajic (FENS), where experts debated the topics discussed today, including techniques for encouraging dietary change and how to change the food system to increase more sustainable diets.
Closing Remarks
As the Joint IUNS & FENS Scientific Webinar concluded, participants departed with a wealth of knowledge and a renewed inspiration to drive transformative change in global nutrition. Over the past two days, our discussions have underscored the critical importance of research-driven policies in addressing nutrition challenges worldwide.
A thank you to all our speakers, moderators, and attendees for making this event an outstanding success. We eagerly anticipate continuing these vital conversations at the IUNS-ICN in Paris 2025.
