foreword

February 2006: (II)S1–S1

Foreword

The Nutrition Reviews supplement you have in yourhands contains the papers presented at the Fifth NestleNutrition Conference held October 7-8 2004 in MexicoCity, Mexico. This conference, which was made possibleby financial support to the Mexican Health Foundation’sNestlé Nutrition Fund from Nestlé Mexico, was focusedon strategies to control and prevent obesity, with anemphasis on diet and physical exercise. Primarily, wevisualized this fifth conference as a follow-up to theprevious conference of 2002, which reviewed some as-pects of the homeostasis of body weight regulation withan emphasis on obesity (Nutrition Reviews 2004; 62[7part 2]:S67–S180). We think such a follow-up will con-tribute to a better understanding of the resources thatmay help in the prevention of obesity and some of itscomorbidities, which are rapidly growing public healthproblems.

In a position paper, Dr. Lewis Kuller discusses thescientific and methodological bases of prevention strat-egies, and in a second paper illustrates these principles inthe prevention of hypercholesterolemia. He stresses thepotential benefits of primary prevention that can beextended to cover entire populations. Dr. CatherineChampagne discusses the outcomes of the DASH (Di-etary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet in the con-trol of hypertension, as well as its collateral effects onobesity and comorbidities.

Most prevention strategies to control and reduceobesity and its comorbidities rely on changes in physicalactivity level, and this topic is presented by Dr. JohnJakicic. A paper on the Mediterranean diet is reviewedby Dr. Luis Serra-Majem. Much has been said andpublished on the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, but a

thorough review of its effects on prevention was lacking.Dr. Serra-Majem reviews the concepts, definitions, andeffects of this diet, and may help in clarifying a debatedissue.

Another topic of the conference was related to life-style changes aimed at preventing or controlling obesityand its comorbidities. Dr. Karen Donato of the USNational Institutes of Health describes a program thatwas launched because of the need for public healthmeasures to produce massive lifestyle changes. The USnational education programs are a good example of waysto change lifestyles in large populations.

The topic of interactions between public health mea-sures and socioeconomic levels and other socioculturalcharacteristics, such as ethnicity, are discussed by Dr.Shiriki Kumanyika, who demonstrates the power of cul-tural aspects in the impact on different minority groups.

Two papers are presented relating to the role that thefood industry may play to help in addressing the obesityepidemic. Dr. Hillary Green from Nestle Corporationpresents a summary of data and declarations that givesthe position of her firm on obesity prevention at aworldwide level. Dr. Lee Grotz, as a representative of theUS food industry as a whole, reviews the responsibilitiesof the industry in the prevention of obesity in the UnitedStates.

We hope that these papers from the Fifth NestleNutrition Conference in this supplement will contributeto discussions on some of our options to deal withobesity as a health problem that affects nearly all popu-lations independently of socioeconomic level. We feelthat the information shown in this supplement may helpresearchers of any country.

Pedro ArroyoAlvar Lorıa

S1Nutrition Reviews�, Vol. 64, No. 2