Des aliments à visée santé

06/04/2010 - Press release

The 4th Colloques pluridisciplinaires de Montpellier are due to be held on 29 April 2010 at CIRAD in Montpellier, on the topic of healthy diets.

The aim of the conference is to compare the experience acquired by legal, business and research specialists, and thus establish principles that could serve to improve our mastery of food safety.

The question of what constitutes a healthy diet is an age-old one. Hippocrates (460 BC) and Arnaud de Villeneuve (13th century) were already writing about it.
The idea of "eating well " is currently centre-stage. It has to be said that the situation is an alarming one: 32% of deaths in France are due to cardiovascular disease, and the number of obese young people has been rising steadily for the past 20 years.

A "good diet"

In January 2001, the French government announced the launch of a Programme National Nutrition Santé ( PNNS: national nutrition and health programme), coordinated by the Secretary of State for Health and the Handicapped, in conjunction with the government ministers in charge of Education, Agriculture and Fisheries, Research, Youth and Sports, and Consumer Affairs. Civil society is increasingly on the receiving end of messages about nutrition.

However, as scientists explain, a healthy diet is not just a matter for consumers, it is also a major economic issue for the agrifood industry. Industrialists keen to satisfy demand are increasingly promoting their products as elements in a "good diet ". And such foods are of considerable interest in both economic and health terms.

This fourth Colloque pluridisciplinaire de Montpellier is to assess the current food situation, consumer requirements, the latest products from industrialists, current research, and legislation.

Category: Coming up