NuFEAST · Optimising Nutritional Health and Wellbeing Through Local Sustainable Food Systems - NuFEAST (Nutrition - Food (for) Everyone's health, Available, Sustainable and Trusted)
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2015-09-02 → 2017-09-01
- EU contribution
- €195,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
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Results in brief
Optimising Nutritional Health and Wellbeing Through Local Sustainable Food Systems -NuFEAST (Nutrition - Food (for) Everyone's health, Available, Sustainable and Trusted)
Food is essential for life and health, but the long term adequacy of our food supply is under threat due to a confluence of many economic, cultural and environmental factors, resulting from increased globalization and industrialisation. Recent decades have seen trends towards less sustainable and nutritionally adequate diets, with EU citizens consuming too much energy, fat, sugar and salt1. Of the six WHO regions, Europe has experienced an unprecedented rise in obesity and is the most severely affected by non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including type 2 diabetes, food-related cancer, cardiovascular disease2. Localisation of sustainable food systems is a possible means to achieve positive health and environmental outcomes, and local and regional policy makers have been urged to work with urban populations to develop food systems which meet their needs. Solutions based on complete environmental changes, such as the UK Sustainable Food Cities Partnerships have gained support because of the significant array of benefits they offer for society – healthier local economies, reduced food wastage and pollution and potentially health benefits. However, there is a need to develop new research approaches to identify how these, and other initiatives, can promote nutritional well-being, to shape future nutrition and food policy and to document the new skills required by the public health nutrition workforce to support and foster healthy diets through local food systems. The key objectives of this research were i) a Toolkit for monitoring and optimising gains in nutritional health and well-being and ii) a set of new Guidelines to deliver new competencies for the public health nutrition workforce. This knowledge will contribute towards shaping future policy directions in food and nutrition for the EU citizen.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The WHO European Region has the highest incidence (and increasing) of obesity and non-communicable diseases (including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and food related cancers) caused by dietary factors. Localisation of sustainable food systems and processes that comprise a sustainable diet is a possible means to tackle this problem. There is a need to develop new research approaches to identify how these initiatives can promote nutritional well-being, to shape future nutrition and food policy and to document the new skills required by the public health nutrition workforce to support and foster healthy diets. This project will capitalise on the complementary expertise of the Fellow (with extensive practice experience in Australia and New Zealand as a community nutritionist) and the interdisciplinary research skills and expertise at Bournemouth University (BU) to generate new knowledge and understanding of the contribution of local food sustainable systems to nutritional health and well-being. This will be a unique, systematic research programme that combines quantitative and qualitative research methodologies which will enable first steps for the design of a model of nutritional health and well-being and identification of new competencies for training in public health nutrition. The key outcomes of this research will be i) a Toolkit for monitoring and optimising gains in nutritional health and well-being and ii) new Guidelines to deliver new competencies for the public health nutrition workforce. This knowledge will contribute towards shaping future policy directions in food and nutrition for EU citizens. The Fellow will be up-skilled (in new research skills and techniques) to advance her career significantly, to translate her background knowledge into a continuing research environment and to build and maintain links with other public health researchers in sustainable food environments throughout Europe, while maintaining strong links in Australia.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY · POOLECoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union