Nutritionists convened in Brussels last week in a conference organized by EuSalt, the association of European salt companies. As reported in FoodNavigator.com , a basic thrust of discussion was the inadequacy of current data sets on actual nutrient intake levels. The European Union has a program (FACET) to harmonize intake data collection and create EU-wide databases.
"We need to deliver meaningful data," said Beate Kettlitz, director of food policy, science and R&D at the CIAA, the European food and drink industry association, speaking at the event.
"There is a lot of information out there about what people are eating - national databases, regional databases, in-house databases owned by food companies - but quantity counts for little if the data is not also good quality," she said.
While cautioning that the quest of perfect data should not become an excuse to "do nothing" when consensus exists, Loek Pijls, of ILSI-Europe also pointed out the inherent complexities of the data:
"Eating is a complex thing - if you change one thing, you affect others," he said. "For example, we know that there is a link between the levels of vitamin D we consume and the ability to absorb calcium."
We agree, lowering dietary salt, for example, triggers hormone production and inhibits insulin resistance independent of any blood pressure effect. The totality of the impacts must be assessed together.
