Healthy lifestyles for European adolescents: next steps (HELENA)

Last Updated : 10 December 2016

Now that HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) has drawn to a close, coordinator Professor Luis Moreno of the University of Zaragoza, Spain, gives a new interview discussing the significance of the research and the next steps in the field, as well as plans for disseminating some of their new findings.

HELENA was a project funded by the European Commission that aimed to understand and effectively enhance nutritional and lifestyle habits of adolescents in Europe. Obesity in children and adolescents is an increasing problem throughout Europe and it is crucial to establish an environment that supports positive health behaviour and lifestyles. The study spanned 10 European countries to assess 3000 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 using a common methodology. It lead to the development of a lifestyle education programme and provided harmonised and comparable data on food intake in adolescents.

Professor Luis Moreno

Luis A. Moreno is professor of Public Health at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). He did his M.D. and Ph.D. trainings in the same University. He studied Human Nutrition and Public Health at the University of Nancy (France). His research activities focus on nutrition, lifestyle and body composition in children, and have been supported by several grants from the Spanish Ministry of Health and the EU 6th and 7th Framework Programmes (HELENA, IDEFICS, EURRECA, ENERGY projects). He is author of more than 100 papers published in peer-reviewed journals. He is coordinator of the E.U. project HELENA (Healthy lifestyle by nutrition in adolescence), supported by the EU 6th Framework Programme.

HELENA – Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence is funded by the European Commission under FP 6, contract number 007034.