Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9600
ISSN: 2155-9600
Manfred Eggersdorfer
Satellite Symposium: J Nutr Food Sci
Micronutrients are essential for life and optimal health. The link between a sufficient intake and long term health, cognition, healthy development from child to adulthood and healthy aging is more and more supported by science as well as health organizations. It is well established and documented that in low income countries still hundreds of million people suffer from vitamin deficiencies. The UN and its organizations, NGOs and private donors have set up prograMS to fight these issues and to reduce malnutrition. Inadequate micronutrient intake and status is also an issue in industrialized regions and countries. There is growing evidence from food and intake surveys in many countries that a sufficient intake of micronutrients is not reached according to recommendations using RDAs as reference. A significant scientific and medical consensus exists as to the importance of an appropriate level of micronutrient intake throughout the life course to support growth, foster health, and prevent the onset of diseases. Appropriate micronutrient intake - as part of a balanced diet and in combination with a healthy lifestyle - encourages health and well-being. Inadequate micronutrient intake compared to recommendations has long term health consequences for individuals and a wider impact on societies, economies, and healthcare and welfare systeMS. As the insufficient intake does not result in immediate consequences like deficiency symptoMS the impact and long term effects on health, wellness and healthcare costs are often neglected. Assessments by different research groups indicate that the financial burden on direct and indirect health care costs can be in the range of billions of dollars. The presentation will provide an overview on nutritional needs, an approach on the analysis of intake surveys and the consequences for long term health and risk for non-communicable diseases with a specific focus on vitamin E.
Manfred Eggersdorfer is Senior Vice President for Nutrition Science & Advocacy at DSM Nutritional Products. He studied chemistry at the Technical University Munich and did his PhD in organic chemistry in the field of synthesis and characterization of unusual amino acid. He was post-doc at the Stanford-University, California working with Carl Djerassi on the isolation and characterization of sterols from marine origin. Manfred Eggersdorfer is active as professor for Healthy Ageing at the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Groningen. He is member of the Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Curatorial for Innovation, and affiliate of various other organizations. He is author of numerous publications in the fields of vitamins, innovation in nutritional ingredients, and renewable resources, reviewer for a variety of journals and associate editor of the ?International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research.