Food for all ages

Background Information

Adult nutrition

Every day we are bombarded with nutrition and health messages and a seemingly endless array of concerns about lifestyle and diet. Healthy eating and a healthful way of life are important to how we look, feel and how much we enjoy life. The right lifestyle decisions, with a routine of good food and regular exercise, can help us make the most of what life has to offer. Making smart food choices early in life and through adulthood can also help reduce the ...

Child and adolescent nutrition

To develop to their optimal potential, it is vital that children are provided with nutritionally sound diets. Diet and exercise patterns during childhood and adolescence may spell the difference between health and risk of disease in later years. Different stages of the life cycle dictate differing nutrient needs.

Science Briefs

Repeated dietary counselling in childhood may help lower heart disease risk

Children’s neophobia has a genetic component

Diet and exercise best for post-natal weight management

View all

Food Today

Time to find the recipe for healthy ageing in Europe

Europeans are living longer. Good news of course, but also a challenge as people should not just age, but also remain healthy for as long as possible. The EU-funded NU-AGE project will study how diet can promote health in the elderly and help to prevent the development of age-related diseases.

How to prevent childhood obesity - news from the IDEFICS study

Stimulating children to exercise by creating an environment with enough green space, sports facilities and playgrounds may be a simple means to combat obesity in children. At the same time parents have to make sure that their children get enough sleep during the night. These are the latest results of the European Commission-funded project IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced Health EFfects In Children and infantS).

Finding out more about food choices and preferences of adolescents in Europe

The HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescents) study gives new insights into the food and lifestyle habits of young people in five countries and shows surprising similarities, as well as some key differences, across Europe.

Learning Healthy Living – Development of a European intervention strategy

The IDEFICS study (Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS) is a recently launched 5-year multi-centre, pan European epidemiological study, funded by the European Commission. Focussing on 2-10 year-old children, it has the challenging objectives of both understanding the multi-factorial origin of childhood overweight and obesity, and of preventing it and its related disorders.

Preventing childhood obesity - examining the setting (3/4)

Previously in this series of articles we discussed key messages for the primary prevention of childhood obesity, and how the age, gender and ethnicity of the target children affect outcome. Now we examine the influence of the setting on programme success.

Preventing childhood obesity - examining what initiatives work (2/4)

Programmes to prevent childhood overweight and obesity, which focus on modification of dietary behaviour, increasing physical activity or reducing sedentary behaviour, have been underway for a number of years in countries all over the world. Encouraging results have provided useful data for the development of future initiatives. This is the second in a series of articles discussing current research on the prevention of childhood obesity.

View all

Energy Balance

With only some basic data, the energy balance calculator defines your Body Mass Index (BMI), your daily energy requirements and if you are at risk for certain diseases.

Calculate now!