On the 5th November at 5 p.m in TU Berlin, Professor Susan Jebb spoke about "Diet, obesity and health: from science to policy" at the annual Queens Lecture.
Poor diet is one of the leading global causes of avoidable ill-health. Obesity, driven by overconsumption, is a key issue, and in most high and middle income countries we also eat too much saturated fat, sugar and salt and too little fibre, which increase health risks independent of weight. Despite the widespread acceptance of the mantra “prevention is better than cure”, prevention remains the cinderella of medicine with chronic under-investment in preventative health research. Nutrition research is a crucial component. If we are to make the case to reprioritise healthcare spending and encourage people to change personal eating habits, we need to have confidence that dietary interventions to prevent disease will be effective. But nutrition has become one of the most contentious issues in science and consumers increasingly turn to their peers and not scientists.
