EURODIET

An epidemic of overweight/obesity, metabolic syndrome and cardio-metabolic diseases is emerging at planetary level, and healthy nutrition represents a critical help to counteract this trend. Unfortunately, simplistic guidelines failed totally or partially, mainly because of the complexity and heterogeneity of nutrition/dietary habits in humans. EURODIET will tackle such complexity and the urgent/unmet need of integrated studies by investigating how the combination of variables usually analyzed separately (ethnicity/geography, sex/gender, socio-economic status/education, previous dietary habits, physical activity and smoking) affects adoption of healthy dietary habits and conventional as well as novel metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers in a large number of subjects spanning from 50 to 79 years of age.

The main objectives are: i) To integrate existing cohorts and collect new ad hoc data (e.g. omics-based biomarker identification); ii) To perform a follow-up study on dietary habits, health status and incident diseases on a subsample of subjects based on existing data collected at two time points within the NU-AGE project; iii) To perform two proof-of-concept randomized controlled trials to assess the effects of adherence to a healthy a whole-diet approach in adults with elevated metabolic risk as well as in patients with diagnosed metabolic disease; iv) To determine facilitators and barriers for adherence to healthy dietary patterns; v) To bridge the gap between academic research, public health practice and the food production industry; vi) To provide state-of-the-art training to young scientists focusing on the importance of addressing/combining biological and non-biological variables in dietary interventions and metabolic diseases.

At this stage of the project, the main findings are: i) generation of sociodemographic-adjusted new data on the beneficial impacts of the Mediterranean diet on metabolic diseases in a large cohort of European adults; ii) elucidation of the impacts of different fat subtypes, protein amount and source and fruit and vegetable on muscle health and metabolic health, while considering the potential effect of adherence to physical activity recommendations; iii) design of an educational approach enabling increased adherence to healthy diet; iv) generation of new data on the impact of increased fruit and vegetable intake on metabolic health and systemic inflammatory environment; v) identifying attitudes and barriers for adopting healthier dietary habits in men and women with different socioeconomic status; vi) through participation in a Social Impact Lab  for multidisciplinary teambuilding and impact mapping, establishment of a regional network supporting the implementation of healthy dietary habits for prevention of overweight-related metabolic diseases in primary care settings; viii) development of a research course for ECS aiming to extend basic knowledge and evaluate current research about evidence-based impacts of dietary patterns and physical activity behaviours on metabolic health, integrating biological, medical, psychological and cultural perspectives.

Expected impacts: The impacts of EURODIET are monitored by the dissemination task force  comprising representatives from the regional and local health authorities and primary care centres, non-profit organizations of end-users, and the industry sector. The expected impacts of EURODIET are: 

1. synthesis of key messages about the importance of healthy diet for the reduction of metabolic disease risk translated into appropriate user-friendly formats (synthesis and translation activity)
2. supporting dissemination of knowledge on behavioural change focusing on healthy diet into public health practice (support activity)
3. supporting dissemination of knowledge on healthy diet for the reduction of metabolic disease risk for development of healthy foods by the food production industry (support activity)
4. supporting implementation of evidence-based prevention models based on healthy lifestyle habits within the workflow of primary health care centres
5. supporting the generation of a new breed of researchers through an education package addressing the role of lifestyle behaviours in the prevention of chronic diseases from a medical, psychological and socioeconomical perspective.