The strong link between health and diet goes back to ancient times but the science that studies this relationship, nutrition, is only now receiving the deserved level of recognition in the research world. The reasons for the growing interest of developed countries in this area are easily summarized in three trends:
• the increase in the average age of the population (due to a drop in birth rate and people living longer);
• the significant increase in metabolism syndromes and obesity, the latter commencing in infancy: this is considered an epidemic and Italy is one of the European countries with the highest number of overweight schoolchildren (and does not show signs of improvement);
• the explosion of health care costs that leads institutions to be called upon to give full priority to initiatives to prevent illnesses through policies and activities focused on healthy eating.
It would appear to be evident that the time has come to promote responsible food consumption on a worldwide level. To this end, a series of actions must be initiated that aim to consolidate and disseminate the adoption of a model that aspires to the Mediterranean diet that is widely recognized as one of the healthiest eating regimes and can also assist in the prevention of major chronic diseases.
The link between diet and health has been the subject of wide and in-depth studies that have allowed us to acquire extensive evidence of the positive effects of a healthy diet.
The moment has arrived to dedicate more resources to practicable development, in order to put to effective use the knowledge gained and achieve tangible benefits for everyone.
Companies and institutions need to invest further both in the development of excellent food products in terms of quality, organoleptic quality, convenience and nutritional profile, and also in the planning and implementation of health education programs through all possible channels in order to help people adopt healthier lifestyles.
1. Execute a plan to improve continuously our products' nutritional profile in line with recent international guidelines. More specifically, reformulate 80 existing products to: reduce the content of salt, sugar and saturated fats and increase wholewheat cereals and fibers.
2. Create natural, wholesome products using safe, high quality ingredients. In particular eliminate the use of arficial colorants and hydrogenated fats oils from all products.
3. Launch 60 new products worldwide that satisfy specific nutritional needs. This will focus on products with specific nutritional claims, health products and wholewheat based products (containing more than 25%) and fruit and vegetable based products (containing more than 20%).
