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How we will produce the evidence-based EURRECA toolkit to support nutrition and food policy

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Abstract

Background

There is considerable variation in the recommended micronutrient intakes used by countries within Europe, partly due to different methodologies and concepts used to determine requirements and different approaches used to express the recommendations. As populations become more mobile and multi-national, and more traditional foods become available internationally, harmonised recommendations based on up to date science are needed. This was recognised by the European Commission’s (EC) Directorate-General (DG) Research in their 2005 call for proposals for a Network of Excellence (NoE) on ’nutrient status and requirements of specific vulnerable population groups’. EURopean micronutrient RECommendations Aligned (EURRECA), which has 34 partners representing 17 European countries, started on its 5-year EC-funded programme in January 2007. The programme of work was developed over 2 years prior to submitting an application to the EC. The Network’s first Integrating Meeting (IM) held in Lisbon in April 2007, and subsequent consultations, has allowed further refinement of the programme.

Aim

This paper presents the rationale for the EURRECA Network’s roadmap, which starts by establishing the status quo for devising micronutrient recommendations. The Network has the opportunity to identify previous barriers and then explore ’evidence-based’ solutions that have not been available before to the traditional panels of experts. The network aims to produce the EURRECA ’toolkit’ to help address and, in some cases, overcome these barriers so that it can be used by those developing recommendations.

Results

The status quo has been largely determined by two recent initiatives; the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) reports from the USA and Canada and suggestions for approaches to international harmonisation of nutrient-based dietary standards from the United Nations University (UNU). In Europe, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has been asked by the EC’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection to produce values for micronutrient recommendations. Therefore, EURRECA will draw on the uniqueness of its consortium to produce the sustainable EURRECA toolkit, which will help make such a task more effective and efficient. Part of this uniqueness is the involvement in EURRECA of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), consumer organisations, nutrition societies and other stakeholders as well as many scientific experts. The EURRECA toolkit will contain harmonised best practice guidance for a more robust science base for setting micronutrient recommendations. Hence, in the future, the evidence base for deriving nutrient recommendations will have greater breadth and depth and will be more transparent.

Conclusions

The EURRECA Network will contribute to the broader field of food and nutrition policy by encouraging and enabling the alignment of nutrient recommendations. It will do this through the development of a scientific toolkit by its partners and other stakeholders across Europe. This will facilitate and improve the formulation of micronutrient recommendations, based on transparently evaluated and quantified scientific evidence. The Network aims to be sustainable beyond its EC funding period.

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Acknowledgment

EURRECA is a Network of Excellence funded by the European Commission, Contract Number FP6036196-2(FOOD).

Conflict of interest none

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ashwell Associates (Europe) Ltd., Ashwell Street, Ashwell (Herts), SG7 5PZ, United Kingdom

    Margaret Ashwell

  2. Lambert Nutrition Consultancy Ltd, 5 Britwell Road, Watlington (Oxon), OX49 5JS, United Kingdom

    Janet P. Lambert

  3. Numico Research B.V., Bosrandweg 20, P.O. Box 7005, 6700 EV, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Martine S. Alles

  4. World Health Organization Regional, Office for Europe, Scherfigsvej 8, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Francesco Branca

  5. Hylobates Consulting Srl, Via Gaggiano 42, 00135, Rome, Italy

    Luca Bucchini

  6. Dept. of Human Nutrition, Warsaw Agricultural University (SGGW), 159c Nowoursynowska Str., 02-766, Warsaw, Poland

    Anna Brzozowska

  7. Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 8129, 6700 EV, Wageningen , The Netherlands

    Lisette C. P. G. M. de Groot, Rosalie A. M. Dhonukshe-Rutten & Pieter van ’t Veer

  8. National Institute of Health, 6100 Executive Blvd Msc 7517, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Johanna T. Dwyer

  9. Diet and Health Group, School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom

    Sue Fairweather-Tait

  10. Division of Metabolic Diseases and Nutritional Medicine, Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Lindwurmstr. 4, 80337, Munich, Germany

    Berthold Koletzko & Julia von Rosen

  11. Institute for Medical Research, Dept. of Nutrition and Metabolism, University of Belgrade, Tadeuša Košćuškog 1, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Mirjana Pavlovic

  12. Dept. of Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health, University of Surrey, Guildford (Surrey), GU2 7XH, United Kingdom

    Monique M. Raats

  13. University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, P.O. Box 550, 35080, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

    Lluis Serra-Majem

  14. Minerva Public Relations and Communications Ltd., Windermere House, Chalk Pit Lane, Monxton (Hants), SP11 8AR, United Kingdom

    Rhonda Smith

  15. TNO, Nutrition and Food Research Institute, Utrechtsweg 48, P.O. Box 360, 3700 AJ, Zeist, The Netherlands

    Ben van Ommen

  16. ILSI Europe aisbl, Avenue E Mounier 83, Box 6, 1200, Brussels, Belgium

    Loek T. J. Pijls

Authors
  1. Margaret Ashwell
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  2. Janet P. Lambert
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  3. Martine S. Alles
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  4. Francesco Branca
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  5. Luca Bucchini
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  6. Anna Brzozowska
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  7. Lisette C. P. G. M. de Groot
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  8. Rosalie A. M. Dhonukshe-Rutten
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  9. Johanna T. Dwyer
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  10. Sue Fairweather-Tait
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  11. Berthold Koletzko
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  12. Mirjana Pavlovic
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  13. Monique M. Raats
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  14. Lluis Serra-Majem
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  15. Rhonda Smith
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  16. Ben van Ommen
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  17. Pieter van ’t Veer
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  18. Julia von Rosen
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  19. Loek T. J. Pijls
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on behalf of the EURRECA Network

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Loek T. J. Pijls.

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Ashwell, M., Lambert, J.P., Alles, M.S. et al. How we will produce the evidence-based EURRECA toolkit to support nutrition and food policy. Eur J Nutr 47 (Suppl 1), 2–16 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-008-1002-6

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