It's our first time attending the
#ECO2024 congress and we're absolutely thrilled! Not only is it a precious source of information, a comprehensive update on the science in the variety of expertise involved, but courageous patients' testimony make the event uniquely humane.
We've had the opportunity to meet lots of great people, from clinical researchers, psychologists, public health experts, nutritionists. These encounters seem to draw elements of a shared understanding:
- obesity is a disease, which calls for sustained, dedicated research and therapeutic approaches
- obesities, rather than obesity, better describe a broad variety of situations patients experience on a daily basis
- multi-disciplinary collaboration is key to bridge promising drug developments, public health strategies, nutrition and behavioral accompaniement of patients in the long run
The event clearly underscores the need for nutrition, which has more insights to offer than simply diet. It’s about dietary and lifestyle patterns, food consumption habits for every meal, intersecting biological and behavioral sciences.
It also shows the need for food science, especially, as reminded during the session dedicated to dietary guidelines, in promoting healthy eating habits and nutrient dense foods. There is no magic food. There is no food-as-a-medicine claim. But there are foods that bring nutritional value when integrated within a balanced diet, especially in the prevention phase.
Yogurt is such a food. Its health effects are backed by scientific literature (see next tweet for references), which show that it can help in various health contexts like weight management, high blood pressure (especially in women), or type 2 diabetes.
Though mostly observational, there is consistency across studies when comparing these effects to other dairy foods. The evidence is solid enough for top national or international institutions to recognize its health effects. That’s what EFSA did in Europe on live yogurt cultures and improved lactose digestion ; and just now that’s what the FDA in the US did, recognizing its helping role in preventing type 2 diabetes.
We look forward to exchanging over these topics with all area of expertise, discussing inclusion of yogurt in RCTs, probiotic and microbiome related studies, public health and nutrition strategies.
Many thanks for a great event and talk soon!
#ECO2024
#YINIxECO2024