Reviews of Scientific Evidence and Policies on Nutrition and Physical Activity

Background

As the burden of chronic diseases in European countries has reached considerable proportions, various EU-wide initiatives have been launched in an attempt to address the main risky health behaviours linked to non-communicable diseases. Among them, nutrition and physical activity have been identified as major risk factors for a host of chronic conditions and an important target for prevention.

Objectives

Following an increased interest at the EU level in the prevention of chronic diseases, the current project aims to carry out a comprehensive review of scientific evidence and policies related to nutrition and physical activity in order to create a strong evidence base for effective and efficient actions to tackle chronic conditions in Europe, with particular focus on overweight and obesity.

Methods

•                The project team will carry out eight systematic reviews of the academic and grey literature on the main determinants of diet and physical inactivity-related chronic diseases and will formulate policy recommendations based on the accumulated information.

•                A series of interviews and in-depth case studies will complement the reviews and allow for a detailed analysis of issues and policies of particular relevance.

•                Furthermore, a series of eight expert workshops will be organized with the goal to evaluate and validate the literature review results and to further refine a set of objective-specific policy recommendations.

•                Throughout the project, a peer review process involving a number of external experts, will revise the results and give strategic guidance and feedback to the project team.