According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), diabetes is increasing among all age groups in Europe, mostly due to increases in overweight and obesity, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. Globally, the number of adults living with diabetes rose from 153 million to 415 million from 1980 to 2015. By 2030, diabetes is expected to be the 7th cause of death worldwide.
Indeed, a healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use can prevent or delay the onset of type-2 diabetes. The JRC's nutrition and health experts look at these aspects, evaluate scientific developments in these areas and analyse their applicability for public health decision-making, with the ultimate goal to translate better nutrition and more physical activity by individuals into healthier societies.
As dietary and eating habits form early in life, children and adolescents are one of the major focus groups of the JRC's nutrition and health-related work. One in five school children is obese or overweight already and this number is on the rise. This is a concern which has led the European Commission to adopt a strategy on nutrition, overweight and obesity-related health issues as well as to coordinate MS committing to an EU Action Plan on Childhood Obesity 2014-2020. The JRC supports this strategy in a number of ways.
The JRC has recently mapped the school food policies in place in the different European Member States to provide a basis for initiatives promoting healthier school environments in Europe. The nutrition team has also created individual country factsheets that serve as basis for further discussions and actions at Member State level. In order to better translate scientific evidence into national actions, the JRC is preparing policy toolkits on effective ways to promote water, fruit and vegetable intake at schools.
The JRC is a partner in the Joint Action on Nutrition and Physical Activity (JANPA), an EU Member State joint action focusing on the economic burden of obesity on national health systems, on the prevention of health problems that originate from childhood obesity, sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy nutrition, as well as related health problems.
Moreover, the JRC contributes to the running of this Action Plan by analysing and visualising the data used for the monitoring of indicators linked to 'a healthy start in life', healthy environments, food marketing to children, and the promotion of physical activity. Based on this, the first evaluation of progress towards the objectives of the Action Plan was presented in Brussels on 6 April 2016. Read the speech by Commissioner Andriukaitis
Recently the JRC scientists developed a new reference material, which provides a more reliable basis for diabetes testing. In practice, this is a new set of calibrants for the standardisation of measurements of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), a marker for the monitoring of diabetes in blood, which doctors use as an indicator for diabetes and to assess the results of treatment.
Image: A healthy diet and regular physical activity can prevent or delay the onset of diabetes
© Fotolia vectorfusionart
El gen AtCDF3 promueve una mayor producción de az...
Un estudio con datos de los últimos 35 años, ind...
Un equipo de investigadores de la Universidad Juli...
En nuestro post hablamos sobre este interesante tipo de célula del si...
Theriva™ Biologics ha anunciado la presentación de datos preclínic...
