Poor nutrition is growing in affluent countries despite widespread consumer access to nutritious foods and nutrition education campaigns, according to several new and pending studies presented at the Second World Congress of Public Health Nutrition held recently in Portugal. DSM organized a forum at the Congress to discuss this critical health issue. Studies reveal that adult intakes for a significant number of vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A, D, E and folate, are well below recommended levels. Soon-to-be published data from the HELENA study, which investigated the micronutrient status of European adolescents, also shows there is reason for concern among the younger generation. “For many living in industrialized countries, deficiencies of vitamins and minerals only occur in the poor and developing world, but new research is showing that this is not the case,” said Dr. Manfred Eggersdorfer, senior vice president of Nutritional Science & Nutrition and Health Advocacy at DSM Nutritional Products. “What is both surprising and alarming is that despite a relatively healthy diet and access to a wide variety of foods, research shows low intakes of many of the vital vitamins and minerals in many developed countries.”

Research by Dr. Heike Bischoff-Ferrari of the Centre on Aging and Mobility at the University of Zurich, showed that a deficiency of vitamin D not only results in the well recognized increase in bone fractures but may also cause muscular impairment (weakness, pain and a waddling gait) even before adverse effects on bone occur.

Dr. Mary Ward of the Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health of the University of Ulster also presented research showing that vitamin B2 (riboflavin) might have a clinically important impact on lowering hypertension, which is a global public health challenge accounting for 14% of deaths worldwide and an estimated 10% of global healthcare expenditure.