Paediatrics and nutrition experts have come together to share the latest research at a symposium in Luxor today (January 23).

The two-day fifth Nestlé Nutrition Institute Middle East symposium themed “The First 1,000 Days: Setting the Future,” is being attended by more than 150 doctors, nutritionists and healthcare professionals from Egypt and the region at the Luxor Steigenberger Nile Palace Hotel.

The symposium provides an opportunity to share new thinking and to advance awareness of the impact of nutrition on newly born babies during the first 1,000 days and how it can help to prevent obesity and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) later in life.

The World Health Organization (WHO) supports the view that nutrition during the first 1,000 days includes the period from preconception to the post-weaning period at two years of age has direct influences on both the growth and cognitive development of a human being’s life.  

Professor Ferdinand Haschke, global president of the Nestlé Nutrition Institute, said: “NCDs, among them the consequences of obesity, type-II diabetes, and cardiovascular events will account for almost 80 per cent of all deaths and negatively influence mortality statistics during the next decades.”

Suresh Narayanan, chairman and CEO North East African region at Nestle Egypt, said: “This symposium will create a platform for sharing the latest science that has been done in the previous years between local and global healthcare professionals and will result in better understanding of the interactions between nutrition during the first 1,000 days, NCDs, and the role of key genes in affecting future health.

“It will also discuss nutritional strategies for the prevention of allergic diseases and the dramatic increase in allergies over the last decade, making them a serious public health concern.”
 
The symposium will also host five workshops on various topics including breast feeding, home-made weaning food versus fortified ready-made foods, fighting malnutrition among middle income households, cultural habits in infant feeding versus new guidelines and food fortifications versus multivitamin and the importance of practice change. - TradeArabia News Service