Health and nutrition professionals gathered at W5 on 7th May for our annual ‘Nutrition and Health – What’s New?’ conference, which this year highlighted some of the pressing public health challenges of undernutrition.
The event was chaired by Professor Sean Strain OBE, Emeritus Professor of Human Nutrition at Ulster University. Professor Jane Murphy of Bournemouth University opened the conference with an exploration of malnutrition in later life including research as to the most effective approaches to preventing and managing undernutrition. She highlighted some of the ongoing work to improve food and nutritional care for people living in care homes, including in Northern Ireland. Professor Murphy underscored what this means for older people, potentially leading to improved physical and mental health, increased quality of life, pleasure in eating, maintaining independence and reducing carer burden and associated costs.
Looking at another aspect of 'undernutrition', Ulster University’s Dr Sinéad Furey followed with a session on food insecurity among children in the UK. She discussed recent statistics on household food poverty in Northern Ireland and the contributing factors including income instability, rising food and fuel costs, and social inequalities.
Next, Dr Anne Nugent from Queen’s University Belfast spoke about the challenge of striking the right balance between ‘nutrition’ and ‘environment’ in achieving sustainable diets, and potential risks of missing out on important nutrients such as calcium and iodine. Presenting findings from the MyPlanetDiet study, she explored whether meeting nutritional and environmental goals simultaneously through dietary change can be achieved.
Concluding the speaker line-up, Dr Sarah Bath of the University of Surrey explored the resurgence of iodine insufficiency in the UK, particularly in the context of rising plant-based diets. She outlined the key role that milk plays in iodine intake, the lower iodine content of the majority of plant-based drinks so the consideration that needs to be given to obtaining sufficient iodine on plant-based diets.
Dairy Council for Northern Ireland nutritionist, Dr Carole Lowis commented:
“This conference is a highlight on the Dairy Council calendar, serving as an opportunity to welcome nutrition, health and education professionals to uncover ‘what’s new’ in nutrition research.
“Thank you to this year’s speakers who each presented fascinating new insights and furthered our understanding of the problems, and crucially the solutions, of undernutrition, including the part dairy foods can play.”
Nutrition and Health Professionals can find out more about the conference and watch recordings of the presentations here.
Pictured L to R: Dr Sarah Bath, Prof Jane Murphy, Prof Sean Strain, Dr Carole Lowis, Dr Anne Nugent and Dr Sinéad Furey.